1.In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

The magazine I created uses many conventions from a real magazine as I used the magazine ‘NME’ to draw some ideas and conventions to make my magazine appear more professional and life like.When making my magazine I followed the usual conventions a music magazine would follow. I kept my magazine more masculine, and in doing this I used a male model artist on the front, which I edited in black and white to give a more dominant effect. The magazine I was potentially aspiring to follow was an issue from the magazine NME. I chose this issue as I felt it could appeal to my target audience and stood out amongst other magazines.There are a few features of my magazine that challenge forms and conventions of music magazines. For example I have used my own photography for my front cover. This I thought would make the cover appear more realistic.

I think my media product has used a lot of stereotypical conventions, as well challenging some of the typical conventions.First, I used usual conventions such as the feature of a strap line at the very top of the front cover to advertise inside content. Next was an artist shown on the front cover as the main focus of the magazines attention. This is very common among music magazines, to focus on an artist or band, as the whole concept of these types of magazines cover new musical talent. Especially texts such as NME which is where I drove most of my inspiration.I also seemed to challenge some of the typical conventions by not including things such as freebies, which seem to be included much more frequently these days, because of the rapid growth of the internet where people get their information. So this is not included, I want my audience to feel as if, my text contains trustworthy, and more information than you would get on the internet.However most of my inspiration was drawn from a number of NME covers, the flamboyancy and the simplicity is something I have taken and incorporated into my text. The Indie Scene is notable for its unusual and different dress sense, and this can be reflected with the presentation of the magazine and the artists included inside.

2) How does your media product represent particular social groupsThe social groups represented in my magazine are a range of social groups, because my magazine has an average age range from around 16-25, there are social groups such as college students, younger workers, university students.I think my magazine represents these types of people as it is not a childish magazine, it has a messy but fun aspect to it, the images I have used are not ones that I did not think about first, I planned them in a way that they looked professional then edited them to make them look more realistic. My images also have good connotations as I used mostly that age ranged models in my pictures so my social groups are able to look at these images and relate them to their selves. I think my magazine represents a young indie social group which stands out from the ordinary This particular social group is influenced by the music they listen to and the artists fashion style and content of music so they reflect of each other.

I wanted my magazine to stand out and look different compared to other magazines, my front cover represents a particular social group by having a variety of different rock and indie artists spread around it gives my target audience a chance to see what kind of up coming and older artists are included in the magazine.

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

I would like to use the IPC media to distribute my magazine, this is because:-They are a well known media Institution who are reliable -They are a mainstream brand -They distribute other great magazines like NME -They have a well presented web site

IPC Media produces over 60 iconic media brands, with print alone reaching almost two thirds of UK women and 42% of UK men – almost 26 million UK adults – while our websites collectively reach over 20 million users every month. Also, IPC already distributes well known music magazines, this shows they are reliable and have the correct experience. Along with IPC media, I will get a brand name that customers trust, as they will know that this distributor produces NME etc. IPC media already distribute 350 million copies of magazines every year in JUST the UK, so they can be heavily relied upon. I considered Bauer Media as my distributor as it has over 80 media brands and reaches over 19 million people in 15 different countries selling music magazines such as Q,MOJO and KERRANG!. However, the fact that it sells such an extensive amount of media products, there will be too much competition in this institution for my magazine as my target audience will be ruled out by one of their many magazines, therefore this institution was not possible to consider.

Pinpointing exactly how far IPC's roots stretch back into the midst of publishing history is a complicated business. The International Publishing Corporation Ltd was formed in 1963 following the merger of the UK's three leading magazine publishers – George Newnes, Odhams Press and Fleetway Publications – who came together with the Mirror Group to form the International Publishing Corporation (IPC).I tried to find an institution that specialised in music magazines so that they would know how to distribute and market my magazine, I tried to do this buy researching other magazines like NME and Q.

The main outlet of my magazine would be WH Smiths. This is because they are a reliable shop and they have shops all over the country, they also sell a wide range of magazines. The only problem that could come up with selling it there is that they sell so many magazines mine would have to really stand out, but I think that it does so I don’t feel I have a problem.I would also have my magazine being sold at HMV seeing as it has stores all over England and it is one of the biggest selling music brands, I think that this would benefit the reader because it is making the magazine easier to buy and get too.Another place that I think is a large market is corner shops in the suburbs of towns and cities, I think this because my audience is not able to drive and to buy my magazine they would be able to walk to the nearest corner shop in there village. They may not have as big names as HMV and WH Smiths but they are convenience for my target audience.

Certain magazine companies offer subscriptions where they send a a monthly/weekly magazine out to the subscribers address, therefore the media is coming to them.

4) Who would be the audience for your media product?The concept of audience can be divided into two areas; primary and secondary research. Audience categories are based upon more than one factor. The use of Graeme Burton’s theory helped me to identify my target audience.Graeme Burton has decided that you can either identify an audience in two ways; his Theory identifies the difference between socially grouped audiences (e.g. grouped by age, gender, race, class, and place in society) and media grouped audiences (e.g. grouped by their relationship with media, such as computer-game users, film-goers and so on). I have chosen my target audience to fall in to both categories, with the target audience being females and males, 18-30, being middle/working class; they would also have a high interest in music, and also in magazines and maybe could have an occupation to do with a journalistic employment.

Previous to making my magazine, I had created an audience profile which was a brief outline as to who the audience of my magazine would be. This contained some facts and figures that I had found out about the types of people that would read my magazine. This gave me an indication as to how to create my magazine, what the house style would be and the sorts of things I would need in my magazine. A typical audience member for my magazine would be someone who is interested in a wide variety of different music and not just the pop music that you hear in the charts; they would be someone who would be interested in attending music festivals and therefore would want to know about festival and gig line ups. They would prefer to see artist live, instead of just watching them on the music channels, so therefore they would be more active.I had decided that I would aim my magazine at either gender that are in to the rock and indie scene of music. In particular between the ages of 16-25. This gave me a good indication as to how to create my magazine, because I had a clear target audience. Therefore, I made the house style of my magazine white red and black which stands out and is a mix of mainly neutral colours, which works well with the target audience being males and females.Another thing that would play a relatively big part in their lives is fashion; they would be quite fashionable and would have an interest in the latest fashions. These sorts of people would read my magazine because it is aimed at people who enjoy music and everything concerning it, such as festivals and the fashions of different artists.

5)How did you attract/address your audience?

It is vital for any magazine to be able to attract and address a relatively large audience or the agreed target audience, in any case, to be successful. There was a variety of ways that we attempted to attract and address our audience.

One way we attempted to do this was through the use of questionnaires. We believed that this would be a successful method of original research for us in order to find out what the majority of potential viewers actually wanted to read about.the main feedback that was coming from them was that people, in the majority, would prefer to read an indie/rock magazine focused on a younger audience about music and fashion.

I thought that it was important when creating my magazine that it had a unique selling point, which would attract my target audience and differentiate the magazine from other competitors, therefore meaning that they would buy my magazine. The unique selling point for my magazine is that it is aimed at both genders of the ages between16-25; therefore I have a clear target as to who I want to buy my magazine. In my opinion having a unique selling point is important, especially for a new magazine, because you have to be able to distinguish yourselves from competitors.I attracted my audience, of male and female, through the house style of my magazine as it was red, black and white, these are just some of the colours that would attract my target audience to my magazine. I feel my images selected can relate to my target audience. Another aspect of my magazine that would attract my audience or address them is the double page spread, as I have tried to use words which would relate to them and words that they would use themselves. Unlike magazines like classical music, which are quite formal and use sophisticated words in order to attract their audience, my magazine takes an informal tone,  relating to my target audience   

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

During the creation of my media product, a music magazine, I have learnt a great deal about technologies and they have vastly helped and improved my media product, if I had been without them. During the process of making my product I regularly posted and kept my work up to date on my blog. To make my product I used a number of different technologies and programmes to create it all. Needless to say, I used a computer but below is a list of the technologies I used for the task.

-Digital camera-Adobe Photoshop- Macromedia Fireworks -Internet explorer-BlogSpot-Microsoft word-Microsoft PowerPoint

For example: Photoshop is an image manipulation program that allows me to edit the photos id taken it was extremely useful in the development of my media product and made possible images which simply wouldn’t of worked previously.For example my image on my front cover was originally in colour but I managed to enhance it in to black and white.

Using all of these programmes has taught me to edit and enhance the images I had taken and to see the difference in edited and unedited images.

- Below are my preliminary tasks in comparison to my main product..

Looking back at your preliminary, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

I fell I have learnt how to use lots of different programmes some I have learnt from new and some I have learnt how to use more than I did before. my skills in Photoshop have significantly improved.Looking back at my preliminary task, and looking at my current magazine, it is clear that my media skills have progressed to some extent, allowing me to produce my magazine. Some of the areas I have progressed in include my choice of photos, choice of fonts and mode of address.