Drawing relates to contents page outcome?
I feel my drawing relates to my contents page outcome, however because I didn't include colour onto my drawing I tended to tryout different colours which I felt was better because It was easier for me to relate to my front page magazine and use different colours, that were not use on my front page magazine. In addition, my content page outcome still linked with the front page magazine, it was just further extended in terms of colour scheme to keep my readers interested.
Research relates to contents page outcome?
I feel my research did relate to my contents page outcome, however I didn't want it to specifically link to it and therefore the main link is the structure and the fact that the creator of the Q magazine contents page used pictures to identify a specific page. Furthermore, because my research was a different genre in terms of music, I couldn't be precise, but I didn't want to use a magazine content page that was exactly the same genre as mine because it would be as creative. Additionally, the images I used and took are very different to the ones used in my research therefore, I feel the images structure makes the content more distinctive as there isn't really one like it.
1. In what ways does your media product use, develop, and challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My media product uses forms of media conventions through pictures. For example, the pictures I used represent my target audience (girls between 14-19) and the type of genre my music magazine is (R&B and Hip Hop) which is what I learnt from my general research on music magazines, for example NME and Kerrang have a target audience of around 18-23 years which you can see from the type of pictures they use, also people who are indie and into rock music. Additionally, my images relate to girls who want to be seen as assertive, outgoing and fierce which is what music magazines such as Billboard and V magazine do in order to appeal to women. Furthermore, my the models in the picture on my content page are aged 17 which is in between the age of my target audience which is another thing I noticed music magazines do, they use models or artists that are around similar ages to their target audience in order to appeal to their target audience.
Secondly, my product (content page) including quizzes and competitions for example, 'vaults quiz' on pages 81 and 'vault extravaganza' to appeals to a wider audience. I noticed allot of music magazines, from general content page research, done this in order to make the content page lively as opposed to just text; different features on the content page make it more appealing which would encourage the target audience to read on. I also stated newcomers (latest R&B/ Hip Hop artists), latest albums, latest events which is the main aspects of real media products; real media products try to vary in terms of what they portray to attract their audience.
In terms of what my Media product developed of real media products was limited. My main aim was to challenge real media products and therefore use mainly female models to appeal to my limited target audience. Whereas most media products try to appeal to a wide audience, I wanted my media product to appeal to girls that were confident, unique and fierce which is why I one, very small image of a boy. I also wanted to give the impression that girls are just as creative as boys which is another reason why my target audience were girls. However, it can also be argued that I didn't challenge forms and conventions of real media products as I didn't risk using mainly colours that were seen as quite masculine, I therefore, conventionally used colours such as purple and red which are hugely associated with girls and young women.
2. How does your media product represent a particular social group?
- Pictures
- Text
- What is written in the text
- Colours
- Layout of the pictures and text
- Size of numbers
3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Future Publishing
I feel that is the type of media institution that might distribute my media product because it is centred in the UK, US and Australia and is centred around diverse products that represent different people and particular social groups. The company was founded in 1985 with one magazine and today their operations create over 180 special-interest publications, websites and events for people who are passionate about their interests. Like my product, Future publishing aims to attract people who are passionate about their interests as opposed to people who have little passion for their interests, in addition they aim to attract people by focusing on a specific interest as opposed to many, this is what my products do.
Furthermore, Future hold market-leading positions in games, film, music, technology, cycling, automotive and crafts and is therefore a very creative and diverse company.In addition to this because the company mainly has music magazine with rock being their main genre, I feel my magazine will appeal to this company as it is different to other R&B and Hip Hop magazines, and it focuses on strong women which allot music magazines fail to do. Because their aim is to be the number one provider of trusted editorial services for enthusiasts in every one of our specialist sectors, and to be the number one partner of the companies who want to do business with these enthusiasts, I feel this institution may distribute my product because their industry does not have one like it at the moment.
Lastly, I feel my magazine will attract more people to the institution because they currently do not have magazines based on young women with R&B and Hip Hop being the genre.Future sells 3.2 million magazines each month, feel this could increase to about 4 million in the first year and even higher later because the genre of my magazine relates to allot of people that are not being represented through magazines.
4. Who would be the audience of your Media product?
- Girls
- Aged 14-19
- Creative girls
- Girls who are assertive and confident
- Girls who use their feminine assets to represent power
- Girls who are int to R&B and Hip Hop, urban music
- Girls who are outgoing
5. How did it attract and address your audience?
6. What you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Photoshop
I learnt how to use Photoshop to edit my photos. I often found myself using clone stamp to hide scars. At first Photoshop was a struggle for me because I was impatient, I therefore kept starting again. However once I got use to Photoshop it wasn't hard at all, I was also a lot quicker when it came to editing using clone stamp, all it took was patience.
Here is an example of part of an image I edited using Photoshop: (using clone stamp tool)
7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what have you learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Here is my content page from my preliminary task:
From comparing this to my final music magazine contents page I can see that I have made allot of progress in terms of the aspects of my product and what it looks like in general. For example, the quality of the above photograph is not as high as the quality of the pictures on my music magazine. However, both products- school contents and music contents clearly address who the magazine is aimed at through the pictures. I have learnt however, that it is better to represent your target audience without specifically using objects, for example my school magazine contents used computers, books, table etc to show who my target audience are. Whereas, my music magazine uses facial expressions, colours, clothing etc to show who my target audience is, I feel this is allot more distinctive in comparison to my school contents because it shows that I have thought about others ways to represent my target audience.
Furthermore, I terms of font, I have learnt through a wider range of research how to appeal to a target audience and how to make important aspects stand out, for example, the bigger fonts are usually more important in comparison to smaller fonts.
