Selina Hac

Q1) in what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Whilst making my magazine, I have used many conventions that a normal magazine would use.

For example, on my magazine I have used a masthead which is also known as the title. My masthead is “Louder”. This is a typical convention which not only music magazines has but also any other magazines. However, as I have used this convention, I have also developed it as on magazines, the mastheads are normally on the left hand side of the page. This is because when magazines are stacked on the shelf, they are normally stacked don top of each other leaving the left hand side therefore it will be easier for readers to notice what magazine they are looking at. However, I have put my masthead in the centre of my front page to try and make it look more exciting.

I have also used cover lines. My cover lines are used conventions as they do exist on my front magazine page like any other music magazine. My cover lines are also in a smaller font size.

My main cover line is a developed convention as it is in bigger font compared to my other cover lines and it is in capital letters, however, it does not include an explanatory line.

On my contents page, I have used the convention of writing a editors letter and a subscribe section.

Like any other any other music magazine, my page numbers in the magazine goes quite high as there are 101 pages and in music magazines they normally have a lot of pages too. Also I have used blocks on my text help the reader clear to read. I have found that in music magazines, they also add blocks behind their texts too.

My double page also uses conventions of a normal music magazine. These are that my writing is written in blocks which make it easier for the reader to read as they are not scattered all over the page, but instead in columns.

I have also used a heading which is “All eyes on Dre” and a stand first paragraph on my double page spread which are seen as typical conventions used in music magazine. In my stand first paragraph, i have also used a drop capital letter to start of my first paragraph which is also used in many magazines.

My double page spread also includes a quote, “Music is my life” in the middle of the article. This is a used convention as it is very typically that other music magazines include a big quote in one of their articles in a big font.

Q2) how does your media product represent particular social groups?

My magazine is based on r’n’b and hip hop genre therefore I think that it represents urban teenagers and young adults between the ages of 17-21. I think that my product represents a mixture of both boys and girls as the front cover uses a mixture of colours which both sexes like such as yellow and red.

The rapper on my front page also is staring straight into the camera which connotes confidence and high self esteem which typically represents teenagers and adults between the ages of 17-21 as they like to be respected, just like any other artists. The rapper's ethnicity is also white which suggests that any teenagers can be into and enjoy urban music no matter what race they are. As 17-21 year olds tend to be very confident at this age and like to explore, i have used a rapper as my main cover image to reflect back on the audience rappers are portrayed as confident and full of respect in the music industry.

On the contents page, I have added a picture of a DJ in a club which represents that the people who buy my magazine goes clubbing/raving quite a lot which is typical as people from 17-21 enjoy clubbing and are always out and like to socialise with friends and meet new people.

Q3) what kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

I have found a institution who may distribute my magazine. This institution is also the same as the one I found about my case study which is Bauer Media.

Bauer Media might distribute my magazine as I have found out that they have many companies and also distribute different magazine, however Bauer Media only focuses on rock magazines whereas my magazine is a different genre therefore it will not create too much competition between the magazines therefore I think that it would be beneficial for Bauer Media as it will mean that they will have another fan base which will help them get more profit from the sales. I think that my magazine will help Bauer Media create another fan base for the company as R’n’B/ hip hop is very popular which urban 17-21 year olds would buy therefore the company can earn more money can reach out to a new market and target audience. This will also help Bauer Media become more popular.

I also think that subscription would be very helpful as any people may want the magazine delivered to their doorstep rather than going out to the shops to buy it.

I think that the best shop to distribute my magazine would be WH Smith’s. This is because WH Smith is a popular local shop in which people buy their magazines from also the fact that there is a WH Smith nearly everywhere therefore this means it has easy access to readers who wants to buy this magazine.

Q4) who would be your audience for your media product?

I think that my audience are 17-21 year olds who are interested in R’n’B and hip hop music. They can be any race however I think that they are more likely to be working class. This is because you are more likely to find working class teenagers listening to R'n'B.
However, the audience for my magazine would also likely to be interested in fashion and have a blackberry. Even though my target audience are more likely to be working class, they can somehow get hold of Dr Dre beats headphone and is likely to have them plugged in their ears most of the time.
The boys of my audience are likely to play games such as Fifa and COD on their game consoles such as Ps3 or Xbox.
The girls of my audience are likely to have their nails done and be up to date with all the latest gossip about R'n'B singers/rappers.
Both of the sexes will be up to date in fashion and have all the latest gadgets and would be with their friends most of the time and would most likely like to enjoy raves and going to concerts. They would most probably go to places such as the o2 Arena to attend concerts.

Q5) how did you attract/address your audience?

My magazine attracts to my audience because of the choice of my fonts colours. My background is quite dark therefore I tried to brighten my magazine and tried to make it appeal to my audience by having my main cover line in bright yellow which stands out. Also, to help it stand our even more, I made sure that my main cover line was in capital letters. Not only was my main cover line in bright yellow, I also used colours which stands out from the dark background from my picture such as white and red.

To help my magazine attract to my audience, I also tried to make my main cover image appeal to my audience. As my magazine is based on an R’n’B and hip hop genre, I made sure that my main image was in a stance which looked liked a rapper’s. His nvc is very confident and looking straight in to the camera which gives of a strong and confident aura. I also took the photo so the rapper has eye to eye contact with the reader he can relate to the audience and be on the same level as them which could attract to the reader. The person on my front page is not wearing anything branded however; he is wearing a checked shirt which is seen as really popular amongst teenagers and young adults recently especially to my target audience therefore I think that my target audience may find this appealing.

On my double page spread, I used informal language such as “Ha!”, “Man” and “chilling”. I have decided to use informal language to attract to my audience as 17-21 year old who are my target audience are more likely to use this sort of language which means that they can relate to the rapper and understand him more when the read the interview. This also goes back and related to my target audience as my target audience would most properly be 17- 21 year olds from a working class background which they are more known with having the "street slang". Also, as this magazine has a R'n'B genre, it would be quite weird to see quite alot of standard English, therefore by having some slang on my double page spread in the interview, i think that the readers will find it more fun and realistic.
Lastly, to attract to my audience, i have added a puff on to my front cover which says "Win tickets to see Nicki Minaj live" this will appeal to them especially as i have used the new female rapper Nicki Minaj and she is very popular and is quite the trend. My target audience who are urban 17-21 year olds would likely be a fan of hers as she is full of charisma and has good songs which makes the audience want to win the tickets therefore they would buy the magazine.

Q6) what have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Whilst making my music magazine, I have used many new technologies.

The first new thing I learnt to use was blogger. I used blogger to post up my coursework and help me keep track. I have never blogged or used blogger before therefore I found it quite interesting and it is a good experience. Using blogger for the first time was not easy as there were sometimes some difficulties. This is because sometimes when I posted up images, it did not show up therefore I had to re post it up several times. Also, getting the images in to the right place and the right size was quite difficult. Also, I found out that whenever I was typing on blogger, I had quite a lot of spelling mistakes and I did now know as it is not like Microsoft word where if I made a spelling mistake, a red line will appear underneath the word therefore I had to constantly proofread my work and then I late found out that there was a spell check button which was very helpful. Overall, as the more post I posted, I got used to it and now I find that blogger is very simple to use.

Even though I did not download any fonts to use in my magazine, however I still learnt that we should not download fonts to use unless it says it is for free otherwise it is also known as piracy. Not downloading any fonts that was not free of use I learnt that it is respect of copy right and that I should be careful of what fonts I need to down load and which fonts I can and cannot download in the future.

Using Photo shop was very interesting. It was not my first using Photo shop however I still found it quite hard as it was very long and confusing at times as there are so many tools to choose from. However, i could not find the tool or know how to get rid of the shadow on my main cover image of my front page. I think that if the shadow wasn't there, then the picture would have looked perfect and more professional.
I also learnt how to use a professional camera. The camera i used was a Nikon D3000. When using a professional camera, to get a good image, you must focus the camera (auto focus) and make sure that the red dot is on the right space of the object you are taking an image of. Therefore you will have a focused and good image. I have also learnt that there are different modes for the camera. When i was taking my pictures, i put the camera on "P" mode which basically nearly does everything for you and makes it easier. I decided to put it on "P" mode as i was a beginner which made things much easier for me.

Q7) looking back at the preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from the full product?

Overall, I have learnt that before I start anything, I need to first plan and do draft layouts.

From doing my preliminary task which was producing a front cover and contents page of a college magazine to doing my full task which was my music magazine front cover, contents page and double page spread, I have learnt how to frame a photo and make it look more interesting. This has helped my front cover of my music magazine better as it reflects back to the genre of my magazine, which is being confident and respectful, like how a rapper should be, just like any other R'n'B artists.

I have also learnt how to use a professional photography camera by myself as in the college magazine, the camera was set up by my teacher, however when I was producing my music magazine, I set up the camera by myself and set the mode on to the appropriate mode.

I think that from producing a college magazine to a music magazine, i have learnt how to frame a photo and how to make the pages look more interesting.

I have also found out that making these products take up a lot of time and that you need good timing management. I realised that i did all of my audience research on time which was good however, when it came to producing the main 3 products, i think that i left myself to a limited of time and should have spent more time on it. This shows me that next time, if i was asked to make another magazine, i would not leave it to last minute and start straight on it which will help me produce a much better quality music magazine.

I would also have changed some things from my music magazine if i had a chance to do it again. This would be that i would experiment and explore more with Photo Shop to make my work more outstanding and attractive. I would have downloaded fonts to use such as hard edgy fonts to suit the R'n'B genre of my magazine and i would have also added more effects, not just on my front cover page but also my contents page. Even though i did not use any props for my main cover image on my front page, i still think that it came out quite well, however, to improve it, i think that i next time, i would add props to make it stand out.

From the feedback i got from my friends on face book, to help my magazine stand even better, i think that i need to make sure that i stick to the genre of my magazine and make it clear as someone said that were not sure what genre it belonged to. Some of the other negative comments were to change the colour of my font on my ddouble page spread so it more readable.

However, there were also some positive feedback from the comments which my friends posted. This was that most of them liked my double page spread and they thought it was really good. Also some of my friends on msn said they they like my layout of the contents page and that it was good that i used the same colour scheme for each page. This tells me that my colour scheme helps attract to the audience and gets their attention.

Overall, i have learnt that making any kinds of products will take some time and that i should always plan, draft and ask for opinions. Moreover, i should always allow myself enough time to complete each task and not leave it to the last minute.