Music Magazine

 

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

My masthead composes of a basic text called myriad pro, which will then be used in the contents title and the double page spread title. I did this to make it unique so that it looks structured and nice for my audience. Within the contents page, I merged the letters in to three stages CO at the top, NTEN in the middle and TS at the bottom, this was placed at the top right corner for the text to unfold underneath.

All audiences tend to aim to read at the top left and finish bottom right. In order for my target audience to admire my work, I placed images in both the top left and the bottom right corners. Typography was used within the text, at the start I initially commenced with pen writing, which mimicked a hand writing style. After changing the background font to grey, I felt that the pink was out of place so I changed it to a darker grey on the contents page so that it appealed to my target audience.

Although I changed the text on the contents page, on the double page spread I kept the handwriting style. The purpose of this was to make it seem like the interviewee seemed like he personally wrote the answers on to the page. My double page spread challenges a form of real media product because it is split in to four columns.

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

My magazine will be aimed at a young musician audience who are 15-20 years of age who want to attend gigs and swap music tastes and ideas with other people in order for them to go out and perform. Although, I don’t want my audience to be X Factor freaks who want to be the next Ben Haenow who no-one has heard of since 2014. My magazine particularly talks about one artist (Christian Murphy) but also mentions another artist (Jamie Thompson). They are both 17 & 18 so would attract the same age group. The contents page also includes a band of teenagers.

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

I want my media product to be released by big companies like “The Magazine Printing Company” who will work with individual producers like me, so that it can become popular. I would also want my work to be printed by “The Archant” which is a local company with a wide readership.  This will help influence local bands to attend local gigs.

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

My media product would be for a young audience who aspire to be musicians. Not much has been provided for my audience as they are quite covert musicians. My magazine will help them come out and let their music be heard. A magazine called “Just 17” use to only be read by 13-14-year-old girls who aspired to be like the 17-year-old girls they heard of in the magazines. My magazine will structure a way for my audience to communicate between each other as there are no magazines that will offer the same as my one.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

I would attract my audience by bringing them together with the list of local gigs which are coming up – with a listing by date and by type.  My magazine will be aimed at local musicians until it reaches a national level, at which point it will be region specific. What I could do with my magazine is to ask famous artists and famous publishers who have their own audience, to endorse my publication by having articles in it, at which point that will increased buyer rates.

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

I have learnt a lot from technologies by doing my own research on how to manipulate certain techniques in certain ways. New technology like adobe Photoshop and illustrator has helped me make my magazine attractive and readable for my audience. I was using a canon 1100D with a 18-55mm lens while taking the pictures for my magazine. I learnt how to use settings embedded in the camera such as the shutter speed and aperture to manipulate images to get the perfect picture.

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

From my preliminary task I learnt to make sure it was audience specific, making sure that the magazine had to relate to who it was aimed at. The preliminary task taught me how to outline the basic needs to a magazine as it was only at an amateur standard. The full task taught me how to challenge the forms and conventions of a media product in order for it to look professional. I definitely learnt to do more research for the magazine which was something I hardly did in my preliminary task. By practising over and over again with Photoshop and Illustrator, it had enabled me to adapt my skills and apply them to my magazine to make it better. I made sure that the setting was correct, for example, I made sure the clothing was suitable, the lighting, the equipment, etc. I ensured to adapt my magazine to cover the untidy parts of the magazine, for example all the cables that connected to the guitar, etc.