What ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
I didn't put the date on my magazine because it is a weekly magazine so I thought the date would be irrelevant. I also didn't put more smaller features on the front page because I didn't want to crowd the picture so much that you’re not able to see it, also the fact that my male model is sat down made it difficult to position more features on the screen. I thought the use of the Splash was effective because it drew people’s attention to the idea that there is something that isn't normally in other magazines. I also decided to put the issue number on it as 11 to show that the magazine has had more than one edition which gives the impression that the magazine is already quite popular. I made my models wear black leather jackets because it is stereotypical of rock music listeners, also it gives the impression that they are a band that shouldn’t be messed with and a band that is a contender and will compete with the bands that are out already. I thought the idea that my female model was stood up would show that she is the lead and in charge of the band, which falls with the theme of my magazine of wanting my magazine to appeal more to females and be more about female orientated bands. The colour scheme that I used was to appeal to everyone; the prominent colour is red because it keeps with the theme of rock because black and red is stereotypically the colours of rock bands. I also decided that the use of the thick black outline on the mast heads because it could represent the black eyeliner that is stereotypied with people that listen to rock music. ‘Rebel against the system’ is used for the sell line in order to show that it is different when compared to other rock music magazines, this is because it doesn’t say much of what is inside on the front cover therefore the readers will have to look inside the magazine or buy the magazine (depending on what is inside it). I decided to use the tour date guide for the bulk of my magazine because I read Kerrang magazine and I always find that looking in the tour date guide helps me when I’m looking for someone to go see, so I thought the readers of my magazine would like it if my magazine had a tour date guide. The idea of the competition came from one of my friends that reads rock magazines and she always says that she gets annoyed with the idea that the prizes of signed merchandise are always from bands that she either doesn’t like or doesn’t know, therefore, I thought it would be nice to have the merchandise from a band that the winner could choose.
I didn't use a news section because I decided that that specific section would fall under the 'things for you' section. I also didn't use the word contents for the title because it is too stereotypical and is used in most magazines; therefore, I wanted my magazine to be different. I decided to use different section headings because I wanted to defy the conventions by changing the names of the titles of my section, just like I defied the convention by changing the title of my contents page from 'Contents' to 'What's inside'. Also, I got the idea for the effect of having my pictures looking like they have been thrown down from Kerrang Magazine, I thought that this looked effective and looked good so I tried to recreate it myself. The main colour for the contents page is the pink that was used on the ‘Sugar’ section of my band name. This is because it was used on the front cover and I wanted to keep the colours consistent throughout the magazine, therefore, I wanted to keep the pink prominent throughout the magazine. Also, the idea that the main colour on the front cover is red and the main colour on the double page spread is mostly black, therefore, I thought that the magazine could alternate the prominent colour within each of the articles; therefore, the contents page would be pink. With the subscription, I decided on using a deal that I would take advantage of, this being either getting a percentage of the price off or getting an amount of magazines for the price of another amount of magazines. The drawn picture of the artist was a drawing done by one of my friends specifically for this magazine. I felt that this would work because I already did an article for the readers to send in pictures and letters so I figured I would need a picture to put on the contents page to attract the readers to that page, so I asked one of my friends who I knew was really skilled at drawing and she was more than happy to draw something for me.
I thought the writing would look good if it was in different sections that it would be easier to read and so that I could put my favourite pictures on it. I thought it would look effective to have the name of the band in an unconventional manner. This is effective because it reflects how the band is different to conventional rock bands since they use acoustic guitars instead of electric guitars and drum kits. I had the idea for having my double page spread in the style of a questionnaire because I thought it would be easier to think of questions that thinking of an entire story. In order to get the answers I asked my ‘band’ the questions and asked them to answer as though they were a band. The pull quote that I said was from my male mode ‘Max’ was supposed to be an inspirational quote from him which tells other budding artists and bands that they can do it too. It was also used to draw people into the story because the reader will want to know who used to ‘make fun’ of them so they are able to say that they have bragging rights with the band. When it comes to my actual story, I decided that it would be a good idea to change the colour depending who is speaking, such as ‘Max’ being an off pink, ‘Roxxi’ being the pink that used throughout my magazine and the interviewer being the red used throughout my magazine. I chose my pictures on the actual story page because it tells the story of the decision making process within the band, the first picture is ‘Roxxi’ showing ‘Max’ what she thinks they should do, the second ‘Max’ showing ‘Roxxi what he think they should do, the third is of ‘Roxxi’ saying no the ‘Max’s’ idea and the final one is them arguing. I found that this is effective because it shows the problems and diversity that can come up from having two people that want to be the main decision maker. I also thought the use of a normal house as the setting would have gone along effectively with the story because ‘Roxxi’ says that they ‘find it easier to practice at home’. Also the picture on the stairs would be effective because it shows them in an unconventional place and yet in their comfort zone at the same time, both physically and metaphorically. Physically because they are taking pictures on the staircase at home, however, metaphorically because they are an unknown band being labelled as ‘Britain’s New Smash Hit Rock Band’ which isn’t conventional and yet they are still in their comfort zone because they are making their music their way and not being altered by their label.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
My media product was aimed to be from the rock genre, therefore was aiming to appeal to the stereotypical rock magazine reader, this was portrayed by the use of dark colours, such as black and red. Also, I wanted my magazine to be more female orientated and to appeal to more female readers by having a main feature of a band that has a female lead, also, by using the colour pink which isn’t stereotypically used within a rock magazine, however, I kept this as a dark pink in order to fit in with the theme of a rock magazine. I also wanted my magazine to appeal to the younger age group by having the main band as two teenagers and having it just the two members and not the normal 5+ member bands that are generally on the front of a music magazine. I kept the feeling of having a magazine that appeals to the unconventional audience by making it appeal to females more than males and making it appeal to mainly teenagers, however, I defy this by making my magazine appeal to classes C2 to E, this is shown by the use of the run down district for the background of the front cove. This is because a rundown district with graffiti on it is stereotypically conventional of the lower areas of a city. I feel that the A, B or C1 class aren’t really being represented within my magazine because working class don’t really enjoy reading about people that are from the higher classes or reading things that are supposed to be from the higher classes, so I didn’t represent them within my magazine. Also, when I planned this magazine, I wanted it to be a magazine that I would buy myself and personally I don’t want to be reading about things that appeal towards the higher classes or about people that are from the higher classes.
What kind of media institution might distribute you media product and why?
I did some research into magazine publishers that might be interested into my magazine. I have chosen IPC publishing because it has a wide variety of magazines from all different sub genres, however, I am aware that they have NME magazine, but I feel that my magazine is different because it is a rock magazine that focuses on many different aspects of rock whereas NME is more of an Indie/punk magazine. In addition, whilst doing my research, I noticed that IPC publishing have more than one magazine for each little sub genres, but they only have one music magazine, therefore I feel that they should have more than one.
I have chosen Dennis publishers after doing some research on the type of magazines that they already publish. I chose these because they do not have a music magazine but they do publish magazines that are out of the ordinary and that try to beat the stereotype very much like my magazine. I feel that they would benefit from publishing my magazine because, as I said previously, they do not have a music magazine, therefore there could be an advantage for them to have one that fits into their theme of defying the norm. My magazine defies the norm by showing different sides to rock music and therefore going against the stereotype of every rock magazine.
I have chosen Imagine publishing because I have found that they too don’t have a music magazine, but all their current magazines aim to appeal and attract teenagers. Their current magazines include; X360 and Smart Phone Essentials, which would all aim to please the modern day teenager. My magazine could possibly be seen as a competitor for the current music magazines therefore would fit perfectly within the ideology of Imagine Publishing because modern day teenagers love competition.
Who would be the audience for you media product?
The age range of my magazine is now mainly teenagers aging from 15-24. I changed my audience age after constructing my magazine because in my audience questionnaire I asked what age range they thought my magazine was aimed at and most of them said 16+ so I thought it would be reasonable to say that people over the age of 25 wouldn’t be interested in buying my magazine. My music magazine will appeal to both male and female readers, but will try to involve more bands with female leader to make it appeal more to female readers. This is because, when I did my research into Kerrang magazine, which I based my magazine on, I found that mostly males bought it. My audience like to be up to date with the latest news and tour dates from their favourite band, which will become possible if they read my magazine as it has a huge section on tour dates. My audience also hates being the last to know about new tour dates and hate being the last to book their tickets or even missing seeing their favourite bands live, this will no longer be the case when they read my magazine. My audience spend most of their time listening to rock music, going to gigs and music festivals. On a monthly basis, the audience of my magazine spends around £30 on Cd's and music downloads. They also spend around £200 to go to a music festival for the weekend once or twice a year. They also go to around 20/30 gigs a year, which makes them dedicated music lovers, which is what the magazine aims to attract. The audience of my magazine live breathe and dream rock music. Music is their life, their addiction and they crave new information about their favourite bands to fill their needs and give them the buzz they need. The audience of my music magazine listen to most types of music, but they never feel complete until they listen to some good old rock music. They listen to music that describes how they feel that day, however, whenever rock music comes on their I-pods or on the radio, they can't help singing, dancing, rocking along. It really is like an addiction for them, they will never be able to live without the sound of rock music in their lives. When compared to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, my audience would be in either the social section or just drifting into the esteem section. This is because my audience want to remain part of the rock group and follow all their favourite bands, which they won’t be able to do if they don’t feel part of this group. However, they also need their rock music intake to in order to make them feel better about themselves and help them feel that they aren’t the only ones that crave the music as if it is a basic need. Nevertheless, they could still be in the safety section but ready to move into the social section and they use my magazine to try to edge them into that section by using it to help them belong to part of the rock music community.
How did you attract/address your audience?
When it comes to making my magazine directly attract and address my audience, specifically I considered a few things. Since my audience was people from C2 to E, I had to take the price of my magazine into concern. I did this by looking at the prices of the most popular magazines, took an average price, and used that. When I did this, the price came to £3.45, which I thought was too expensive, therefore, I took £1 off and rounded it up to £2.50, which I thought would be more reasonable and affordable for people in the C2 to E class. In order to make my magazine appeal to more women I decided to include articles about bands that have a more feminine influence or female artists, Such as Amy Lee from Evanescence and my band Sugar and Spice. Also, by including posters and stories about male artists that are in the top 20 hottest men in rock, such as Jared Leto from 30 Seconds to Mars and Alex Gaskarth from All Time Low, there is an appeal to women because they want to learn more about these artists. Likewise, by having the women in the magazine, it still has its appeal on male readers too. I made my magazine appeal to teenagers by having the people on the front cover as teenagers and unknown people, this is because I have found that adolescence can be one of the times in a person’s life when they are curious about everything and want to know the answers to everything. By putting an unknown band on the front of my magazine, it will entice this inner curiosity and will therefore make them want to read my magazine. Also, by having a teenage band on the front will appeal to budding bands because they will be inquisitive about how they rose to fame and how a record company noticed them, so that they can do it themselves.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
When I look at my previous preliminary task, I can definitely see the difference in my ability when it comes to developing my work. I am now able to see the development of my imagination when it comes to my planning for a piece of work. With the final piece, I found that I came up with the idea for it quicker than I did with my preliminary task, I didn't have to change the design as often because I already knew what I was going to do. In addition, when looking at the front covers, I find that the preliminary task’s front cover is too plain and too simple compared to what I feel I could do now if I was given the opportunity again. I would have definitely thought of a better idea and made it more challenging for myself, whereas, now that I look back on it, I think I didn’t push myself enough on my preliminary task. In addition, when comparing both of the magazine front covers, I can see many similarities, therefore, I don’t feel that I came out of my comfort zone or tried to do anything spectacular, which I am disappointed with. My use of the technologies has improved from my preliminary task to my final product. I now find Photoshop less terrifying and difficult to use, but now a lot easier and more entertaining to use. I think this is because with my final product I asked for more help and now understand how the different tools work better than I did before.
