In what ways does your media product, use or challenge forms and

conventions of real media products?

Throughout the process of making my magazines I’ve been constantly referring back to the conventions of pop magazines. From looking at my research I discovered that most pop magazines don’t just use a dominant image but they also use other images as anchorage. The ‘We Love Pop’ magazines are good examples of how other images are used as well as a dominant image. This is to interest the readers and catch their eye with many different stories. The ‘We Love Pop’ front covers are examples of what my magazine front cover is mostly like. Such as ‘We Love Pop’ magazine I have used a dominant image but also other images for anchorage. I also used a similar colour scheme such as bright pink as its eye catching and exciting. For my front cover I used a medium long shot as from my research I discovered that the pose of celebrity was striking so I used this photo and shot as the pose was obvious and effective.

A convention I have used is the magazine title. I used a big bold title which all magazines do to try and get their name out there. I decided to put my title over my picture because as you can see from the 2 ‘We Love Pop’ magazines the image is usually the bottom layer in pop magazines and then the anchorage and smaller images on top.

I also stuck to the convention of aiming the magazine to girl readers. This was because through market research I found that almost only girls purchased pop magazines unlike other genres such as rock magazines as they have both male and female readers. Knowing that the magazine was aimed at teenage girls gave me an advantage as I am still a teenager and know what the readers would be interested/attracted too.

As you can see from the two images to the right I decided to stick to a similar lay out as the Top of the Pops contents page. I like how they had used an image of the front cover highlighting which page each article is on as it makes it clear were to go for what.

I have also used boxes to put the page numbers and story titles into like the top of the pops magazine. I felt this was a good idea because it makes the layout more interesting but also categorises the stories. For example one of the categories is named ‘Celebs & Gossip’ which contains stories of celebrities and the latest rumours. Another idea I have used from the top of the pops contents page is to highlight the page numbers of the articles. This is to show clearly where and watch page the article is on.

I have challenged the conventions of the pop magazine. I have not only just used a dominant image I have also filled the article with miniature pictures of Nathalie. I decided to do this because in my planning I wanted to have my page 60% photos and 40% writing. This decision was made through my research and questionnaires to find out what people wanted in a pop magazine. Because my magazine is aimed at a younger audience I found out that they would rather look at the pictures and fact files instead of reading articles.

Pull quotes are used by most magazines so I decided to use them to attract my audience with a gripping one liner from the interview. My pull quote shows a slice of gossip which makes the readers want to read what was said before and so on.

With my articles I chose to set them into two columns. I looked at setting them into three but the text was far too big and I personally think two columns looks better. I also chose to do two columns as its less writing and more room for pictures so this fit in with my target audience and their needs.

By doing an interview article on a female solo artist I have challenged the conventions of a pop magazine. Pop magazines usually feature popular boy bands such as One Direction or The Wanted as the target audience is teenage girls but I’ve shown that a solo artist can be just as effective if not more as my article story is powerful and the audience can connect.

How does your media product represent

particular social groups?

My media product represents your stereotypical teenage girl. Someone always needing advice on the latest fashion and wanting to know the gossip on their favourite celebrities. By doing my research questionnaire of what 13-16 year old girls wanted in their magazine I came up with the articles, headlines and advice pages. I decided to use a positive photo of Nathalie as my front cover which makes the media product look fun and excitable which is what most teenage girls would be interested in. I decided to use the pink and purple house style as its bright, eye catching and would interest the audience straight away. Also pop magazines are associated with colours such as pink, purple, white, yellow and blue so my thoughts were that my media product would be recognised for what it is. I feel that throughout my product it gives a bubbly excitable impression which suites my social group as its all aimed at the certain group/audience.

What kind of media institution might distribute your product and

why?

Bauer media is an institution in which publishes world wide in 15 countries, this would be good for my magazine to get publicity. Its also a family business so I know that its stable. The only problem I have is that I’ve found out that Bauer media targets adult audiences through there magazines so I don’t know if it would be the best to distribute a pop magazine aimed at teenagers.

IPC media targets a number of audiences such as men, women and upper class women. The magazines distributed by this institution are ‘Country Life’ , ‘Look’ and ‘Marie Clare’. They also distribute NME magazine which is also a popular music magazine.

From looking at the different institutions I have researched I’ve decided that the best media group to distribute my magazine would be IPC Media. This is because it does distribute a popular music magazine but not one with the same genre so I think they have a perfect gap in their market for my pop magazine.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

I have aimed my media product at female girls aged from 12-16 years old. I came to this decision through my questionnaire. 85% of the feedback was girls and 64% was between the ages 12-16. I’ve targeted at them by using bright girly colours such as pink, purple and white. Also my font style is bold and in your face to catch the readers eyes. I used a female as the dominant image and article story to show a strong independent young lady doing well and inspiring others. I dressed Nathalie in the latest fashion with clothing from a popular teenage store Topshop in hope that the audience can look up to her and use her style. I’ve priced my magazine at £1 which is more than affordable for the middle class teenager. Although I put the price lower then what my audience said they would pay because I wanted my magazine to be cheap and popular.

How did you attract/address your audience?

For attracting my audience I decided the best way for a pop magazine would be to concentrate on the colours of my front page and from my questionnaire I decided to aim at teenage girls. By having a concentrated audience it made my decisions a lot easier. For example the colours I used was bright pink, pale pink, purple and white. I felt the front page was the most important as it’s the first thing seen so it’s the most advertised part.

I also attracted my audience by using articles including popular teenage artists such as One Direction, Justin Bieber, Rihanna and Little Mix as they are current and in the charts. I decided to use a female as the dominant image so that the audience could connect through her style, attitude and story. Through my questionnaire I discovered people felt that £2.50 was a reasonable price for a magazine so I decided to give the magazine a VFM through the price. By making my magazine £1 I want people to feel as if they’ve gained something rather than being ripped off for a few pages. I made the title of my magazine bold and unique with the tendencies of it becoming like a logo; recognisable.

Although I am happy with my product I always feel there is room for improvement for example leave less gaps on my page which could be done with better time management.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of making this product?

I used slide share which converts a power point document into a slideshow which I can upload to my personal blog. I have never used this site before making my music magazine and I found it very useful and will definitely be using it in the future.

Another programme I used throughout the process of making my magazine was photoshop. Before making my magazine I had never used this programme but it helped me so much with editing my photos, testing colours and creating my documents. Now I know a lot about photoshop I would definitely use it in the future especially for editing as it is very straight forward and simple.

In our first media lesson of the year we set up our own blogs and I have used this site throughout the whole process. I have uploaded my tasks, my problems with my work, my successful points of my work and final products. Before I had heard of blogs but never saw the point in them but I have realised how easy and useful it has been. we've had access to previous students work through their blogs which has been incredibly useful. The blog has also allowed our teacher to see where we are all at with the process and let her comment on our work.

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

Looking back at my preliminary task I can see that I have progressed massively as the preliminary task looks amateur compared to my final product. This is understandable as it was my first time in using most of the media programmes. My final product looks much more professional with the choice of colour, the text and even the camera shot.

I’m glad I decided to use a plain white background as it makes the pink stand out. Whereas on the preliminary task the background makes it difficult for the text to be read and the choice of colour of the text really doesn’t help this. At the time I felt my preliminary task was pretty good but now I can see how my mind has changed and developed through all the research and endless looking through magazines.

Before

After