12C: Paige Cronin: 2013

Q1 IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT
USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

In my magazine front cover I took
inspiration from the Rolling Stone’s magazine conventional masthead.

 I also
took inspiration from a unique, limited edition NME issue where the front cover
is black and white and the main text/titles are one bold colour:



 On my cover I
also challenged the standard conventional layout of a medium close up template
image, instead using a long-shot to capture the whole band, outfits and
props into the photo to make it clear what genre the magazine is at one look. I
have however stuck to original conventions by keeping the title in the top left
hand corner and the barcode, price and issue number in the bottom right hand
corner.

In the contents page I took inspiration
from NME’s template again. It is based mainly on large photos with little
writing. I chose this because I thought it was more aesthetically pleasing to
have more photos than writing to grab the audiences attention, and smaller writing.  

My double page spread follows conventions
with quotation marks from the text enlarged over the image, a title and one
large image to show who the article is focusing on.

Q2 HOW DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT REPRESENT
PARTICULAR SOCICAL GROUPS?

My magazine is aimed at the social group of
teenagers/young adults who listen to “alternative rock” music. I think I have achieved the
representation of the genre through the images, language and layouts identical
to other “indie” magazines I have used such as NME, Kerrang and Q magazine; therefore representing the particular social
group well. In the double page spread I used informal language and a simple
layout. The informal language was a key aspect because it has to be something
that teenagers would be able to understand and relate to, instead of being large blocks of writing that looks boring. My magazine was
targeted at teenagers/young adults with no specific gender, so I made sure that
all of the photos in my magazine were of artists that were the same age as the
target audience. This way they would be more attracted to the cover image as
they could relate to the individuals and be inspired. 

Q3 WHAT KIND OF MEDIA INSTITUTION MIGHT
DISTRIBUTE YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT AND WHY?

The media institution that might distribute
my magazine would be one that specializes in the “indie” music genre for young
people, because they would be able to promote it efficiently specifically to
the target audience. However, I wouldn’t allow it to be distributed by a
company like IPC MEDIA who distribute NME magazine as the level of competition
would be too high. I think the best way to distribute my magazine would be
through social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook- as digital
publishing is becoming more popular as it enables the product to be distributed
on a much larger or international scale- or events such as gigs or festivals.
This is because it would make it much easier to target the social group of my genre as this is where they stereo-typically socialize. I think my magazine
would also be distributed in shops that are popular with the indie social
group, and there could be special subscription offers to ensure customer
loyalty to the product.  

Q4 WHO WOULD BE THE AUDIENCE FOR YOUR MEDIA
PRODUCT?

My target audience is both genders of
teenagers/young adults aged 16-25. I think this is a fitting scale because this
is the most popular age that people buy magazines to find out about events and
are interested in the “indie” music genre. I think my magazine would be
successful as an “indie” magazine because there is a gap in the market for it;
there are very few successful and popular magazines targeted at this genre as most are amateur.

Q5 HOW DID YOU ATTRACT/ADDRESS YOUR
AUDIENCE? 

Q6 WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT ABOUT TECHNOLOGIES
FROM THE PROCESS OF CONSTRUCTING THIS PRODUCT?

To construct my magazine I had to expand my knowledge on software, techniques and technology I haven’t previously used. For example I used Photoshop. I had never used Photoshop before so it took some time to learn the skills needed for it. I also learnt when using the camera that light manipulation is needed to make a picture look more interesting. I played around with the light for a while in the photo studio until I found the light that suited the images. I didn’t want a glaring light. I also learnt how to edit my images and make them look more suitable for a magazine. I used airbrushing techniques on Photoshop to make the photographs seem less amateur.

Q7 LOOKING BACK AT THE PRELIMINARY TASK WHAT DO YOU FEEL YOU HAVE LEARNT IN THE PROGRESSION FROM IT TO A FULL PRODUCT?

Overall I feel that I have developed my editing skills with practice, so my final product is of much better quality than my first. The preliminary task taught me how to manage my time when making the magazine in prep for the final piece- when/where to take photos, having time to edit them then structuring the pages etc. It put in to perspective the planning and organisation that would be needed for the final product. However, there were limits to how the preliminary task could help me. As it was a set task to create a school magazine it had to be a conventional structure of a small color scheme. This put boundaries on how creative I could be with designing the magazine whereas with my final piece I could be as creative as I liked and use any structure that I thought would appeal to my specific target audience: "Indies". Concluding, I think that I have created a much more professional and unique final product with the knowledge and experienced I have gained over the course.

Q8 EVALUATE HOW SUCCESSFUL YOUR PRODUCT IS WITH YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE USING AUDIENCE FEEDBACK.

I think that my product is successful with my target audience because I used a tried not to use a conventional magazine structure-I tried to make it interesting and unique, like the indie music genre that my magazine was targeting. I think my magazine was well-recieved because I asked a couple of people of my target markets age and interests, and they said that they would be interested in the magazine as they like how the layout is different to ordinary ones and they liked the colour schemes and models I used as they were representational of the genre.