ConclusionBrett Tinnion

Question 1 – In what ways does your media product use, develop, or challenge forms and conventions of real media

products

• There are many conventions for music magazines, for instance on the front cover there is always a mast-head which is the biggest text on the page, there is always a main image in the middle of the page with the main cover story at the middle with a catchy description, there is normally a house style in which only a certain of colours are used, there are cover lines on the right and left of the page. Finally, underneath the mast head there is a slogan for the magazine.

• On the contents page the title of the magazine is predominately at the top, with the date and issue number, the image of an artist is normally in the middle of the page with a description of an article. The most conventional thing on the page is the ‘subscribe now’ at the bottom. Normally on the right hand side there is articles and there page numbers with a pull quote or a description

• Finally, on the two page spread more than likely there will be an image of the left hand side of the page with the name of the artist and a pull quote with on the left hand side there will be the title of the article with a pull quote and then an article underneath, describing the artist

How does my magazine follow or challenge conventions?• My magazine follows conventions, but however does challenge conventions for instance on my front page

it follows conventions by it has a big mast head that stands out the most, it only has one image which is associated with my cover story, another convention followed is that of the slogan underneath the mast head, the cover lines are all around my page which is used in magazines such as NME and Q. The front page does challenge conventions by it has lots of bright colours whereas normally there are just a few colours used, by having bright colours I thought it would be more appealing for my target audience which are teenagers.

• My contents page is very conventional, the title of the magazine is at the top of the page with the date and issue number which is used in nearly every music magazine, also the image and description of the article is used in my contents page is conventional as it gives the reader a ‘teaser’ of the magazine. The most common convention on a contents page is the ‘subscribe now’ this is used in nearly every music magazine and it normally colourful so people will look at it and hopefully subscribe. The artist index and the features and news of the magazine follow many other music magazines, they are easy to navigate around with a colour for the page number and a plain black sans serif font for the article and a description or a pull quote. My contents page is the most successful as it follows all the conventions.

• My two page spread is less conventional to my contents page, this is because although it has an image on the left page and a artist title and pull quote and main text body on the right, it is very colourful which is not necessarily associated with music magazines, it is colourful so it follows my house style. The image on the left is conventional because it is an artist which is associated with my target audience, having a pull quote is used by many magazine makers because it offers an slight insight to the article and makes people want to read more

• Overall, I believe my magazine follows the conventions of music magazines well but however challenges it when it comes to colour schemes and the house style

Conventions of an existing music magazine

MASTHEADCover lines, different colours

Main image

Main title for the main article, always in better text font

SloganMagazine title

Date and issue number

Image to show a story

Reviews

Page numbers and descriptions

New image of the artist, to show who this is about

Title of artistMain text body

Kickers

Page numbers

Masthead, conventional

Slogan for my magazine

Main Image

Cover lines, conventional for them to be all around

Main cover story

Title for magazine is used in many magazines on contents page

Cover lines with a brief description and page numbers, very conventional

Main image with a description on the article

Subscribe now is probably the most conventional part of my coursework

Artist index a technique used in some magazines

Title for the article

Pull quote a technique used in most magazines

Main text body

Title of the magazine , my house style. A technique I got from NME

Pull Quote

My magazine and how it follows conventionsMy magazine has all the conventions of a famous music magazine, it has a significant house style with different colours used which is a technique used in Q magazine. They all have a variety of coverlines, with different images throughout the magazine. The subscribe now is the most conventional on my contents page as this is used in most music magazines. The two page spread has an main image on the left hand side, with a pull quote and the main article title is on the left with the main text body, which is used in many two page music spreads I researched. Overall, my music magazine follows conventions well effectively.

Question 2 – How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My media product represents media products in many different ways because although it is predominantly targeted to teenagers , I believe it can be associated with young adults who enjoy music. Socially, I believe I target to a vast audience, for instance I target to a teenage audience by using artists associated with the age group for instance Kanye West and Jay Z. I believe my audience is for all social classes, but especially middle class, as these are the social class who are associated with the genre as they normally have daughters or sons who can afford to buy these magazines as they have disposable incomeI have focused essentially on the female audience by using an image of a young girl in contemporary clothing on my front page, also by using font colours such as pink and purple these are the colours that are commonly used to promote a female audience, on my image the mise-en-scene I have used has helped me construct a specific social group, as the artist is wearing youthful clothing and I have edited the picture so it looks more youthful and makes the audience interact and associate with herThe language I used throughout my magazine is informal this is so it appeals to my specific social group and target audience, teenagers often just want to read something informal rather than having to read a article which is formal so this helps me appeal to my social groupI have been able to construct these social groups by my research and analysis for instance each magazine I research has a different social group targeted for instance NME is the rockers and teenagers. Billboard is for the popular crowd and teenagers. So by doing the research I have got a solid understanding on my social group and how best to represent there specific social group

Billboard also represents the same social group as my magazine – teenagers who are contemporary and are also middle classed, also they have a flair for music and especially pop music like my magazine.

This group of people from the popular show ‘Skins’ would be ideal for my social group – they are portrayed as popular, who like contemporary music, fashion and are shown as middle classed families.

These are the group of people and teenage things that are associated with the specific social group

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

• I believe my music magazine could be distributed by Prometheus Global Media, which is a subsidiary to a media conglomerate called Nielson Business Media. The companies CEO is Richard D. Beckham. They produce magazines such as Adweek, Back Stage, Hollywood Reporter and the music magazine Billboard. The companies headquarters is in Lower Manhattan, New York.

• Prometheus would be an ideal company to distribute because their other music magazine Billboard has the same target audience as Beats so therefore has a solid knowledge of the audience and would be able to make my magazine better in appealing to my target audience. Also, they would be ideal because there conglomerate company is a media company that specialises in distribution and marketing so they would be able to get my magazine out to the world.

• I believe Prometheus Global Media would distribute my magazine because it is in relation to Billboard so the magazine carries on with there mission statement of catering for young adults, Billboard is an American music magazine so having a British magazine will open up there market even wider and make there profits higher, as they would be able to advertise Billboard in Beats and vice versa so make the two magazines a worldwide success. I believe they would agree to my magazine because they only currently distribute one music magazine so having another magazine that is specifically for music will allow them to make more money and grow as a company. The companies main goals are to deliver excellence, service, and value for money. I believe Beats magazine fulfils the companies goals and aspirations, so Beats and Prometheus would be a brilliant fit and work in partnership to make increased revenue and make Beats and Billboard become a worldwide force in the music magazine industry.

‘Adweek’ is a magazine made by Prometheus Global Media. It is a weekly advertising magazine

‘Billboard’ is Prometheus’s only music magazine, it is an American magazine that specialises in pop and r and b genre

Question 4 – Who would be your target audience for your media product?

• My main target audience for my product is teenagers and young adults, with a flair for music and fun. I have decided to have an audience similar to myself because it would allow me to know what the target audience wants, as I would know because I am part of the target audience. I also chose this target audience because it is convenient for me to do this because I would easily be able to address my target audience by using people my age. Also, I chose this target audience because the magazines I evaluated are all magazines that have this target audience so it would allow me to take there ideas and combine them with my own so it completely associates with the target audience. Many young people like to just look through a magazine and read only a few articles, Beats gives this opportunity because the ratio between text and image is about the same, like NME.

Here are some images of the type of people my magazine targets. As you can see they are all in contemporary clothing, hairstyles and look youthful, which I have used in my magazine by the use of a teenage girl and bright colours.

Question 5 – How did you attract/address your target audience• I have targeted my audience by using a young girl wearing contemporary clothing as this would

allow girls and boys associate with her. I also used bright colours as these are the colours that are associated with the younger generation, the ordered layout is also used because after doing my questionnaire and asking my peers they said they preferred a ordered layout because it is easy to read and navigate around, they also told me to use sans serif font, these fonts are also used in music magazines that have the same target audience like Q and Billboard.

• The artists used on my cover lines also help me attract to my target audience, artists like ‘Jay Z and Kanye West’ are artists that are associated with the younger generation. I also talk about issues that youngsters want to read about for instance the line up of summer festivals, many young people like going to festivals so they want to know who will be there, so having this in my music magazine makes people want to read it and find out more. The main way I attract my target audience is the models I use, they look like everyday youngsters so it allows my readers to associate with them. In my two page spread I talk about issues that youngsters want to know about for instance ‘Is Aimee really dating teenage sensation Justin Bieber?’ this is a technique used by many music magazines; there main focus is music but however they do integrate other areas of teenagers life

• I also use informal language throughout my magazine so teenagers can easily read them and also keeps it open for a broader audience as many teenagers want to read some informal and fun rather than reading formal language as this could be very monotonous for them and boring, so I decided to do this because it will keep my magazine fun. Big colourful mast-head to

make it stand out.Teenage girl in contemporary clothing will make my magazine attract to teenage girls and boys as they can relate to her

Artists associated with teenagers – ‘Kanye West’ which will make teenagers buy the magazine as these are the artists they like

Bright colourful text throughout to make it stand out, which is a convention used in magazines when the target audience is teenagers - Billboard

Talks about artists that are associated with teenagers – Justin Bieber

Pull quote with colourful fonts and colourful fonts throughout as this is associated with the pop genre and teenagers

Pull quote to make her relatable ‘I still live with my parents in California’ makes the artist relatable to teenagers

Informal language throughout my main text body which is a common convention for teenage magazines

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

One technology I have used in constructing my product was the use off www.dafont.com. I decided to use all my fonts from dafont because these were better and looked more professional than the standard Microsoft fonts.

This is how I downloaded my fonts

I used www.dafont.com because it made my magazine look more professional

Another Technology I used was editing my pictures of my magazines – to make it look more professional

I used the Microsoft publisher editing tools ‘contrast’ and ‘brightness’

Question 7 – Looking back at your preliminarily task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the main construction

My preliminary task was very basic, there was just one main image with a main cover story, with a mast head and only one cover line, the colours used were very basic, there was only 3 colours used – burgundy, blue and black. The Image also came ‘as it comes’ there was no editing, which did not make it look professional. My contents page basically just had cover stories with a page number and a message from the editor. Overall, I believe my first task was very poor as it didn’t look professional and was very basicI believe I have made significant progress from my first task, I used a variety of colours throughout my magazine like NME and Billboard. My contents page looked the more professional I believe, I got knowledge from my first task to make t a good looking contents page as it has a ‘artist index’ images and ‘subscribe now’ area and the name of the article and the brief description and a pull quote. I edited my images in my main task to make them look more professional, I changed the contrast of black and white, added more colours. I believe my first task gave me knowledge and basic understanding of magazines to make the best possible magazine I could think of, and gave me a good solid basic to improve

As you can see my preliminary task was very basic with only a few colours used, with two images and a few cover lines.My main task was a huge transformation as it follows all the conventions of music magazines and the images look better as they are edited. There was a vast improvement this is mainly due to a increase in skills.

Mast Head. Microsoft fonts, looks unprofessional

Image with no editing, does not look conventional

Only a few cover lines lots of empty space

Only a few colours used

More professional mast head, with fonts from dafont, better than Microsoft fonts

Dates and times, to make it look conventional

Barcode from the internet

Image with editing to make it be more conventional

A lot more cover lines compared to my prelimearley task

My front cover has improved greatly because there is a lot more colours used, with edited images and better fonts used. Over all it looks a lot more professional

This looks very basic with Microsoft fonts and a colour scheme which is basic and doesn’t look professional

To conclude!

• I believe my magazines follows conventions of normal music magazines in a lot of ways and sticks to my target audience and appeals to them a lot. Prometheus Media group was the company I would chose to sell my magazine to as they would be able to help my magazine with there advertising and marketing schemes. I have learnt a lot about technologies doing this take for instance how to use iMovie and the Macs. Finally, I have improved greatly since my first take and have made my magazine look very conventional.

• Brett Tinnion