Question 7 - Looking back at your preliminary task what do you feel you have learnt from the progression from it to the full product?

When I look back at my preliminary task and compare it to my final product I feel that I have made a lot of progress, not only in the way that my front cover looks but also in the sense that I have progressed in my use of skills when it comes to the production of the front cover. the first thing which I notice when looking back at my preliminary task is the lack of conventions which would normally be included in a professional magazine. A example of this is my use of including additional images of the exclusive interview as a lure for the audience, unlike in my preliminary task as it does not have any sort of lure or any offer of a exclusive. Another convention I have used on my front cover but not on my preliminary task is the use of different fonts making the front cover more eye catching, by making it more eye catching the customer is more likely to be engaged in the product making them want to buy it. the main down side to my preliminary task I feel is the use of colour this is because there is no specific colour pallet used instead it contains a mixture of dark and light colour not really giving the magazine any form of house style, where as my front cover contains a dark colour pallet with only black red and blue being used as colours.

I feel that one of my reasons for lack of success in my preliminary task is that or though I had some knowledge in photoshop I did not have as much knowledge in it as I do now which enabled me to make my front cover. however what I feel to be my main reason is that I had done no previous background research information into the way in which magazines are designed, so I had no previous information in mast heads, lures, hooks or house style.

If i had a chance to go back and start my task again i would have improved my photos which i used within my product this is because the ones i used i felt were diffictult to use within my magazine to fit in with my theme. I would have used a plain white background instead of using the action shots of them playing this is because i would have been able to make them fit more of the critera and suit a more simplistic theme. I would also have use web 2.0 more to my advantage making more blog posts with relevant links and also making more videos to show more advanced knowledge of the topic.

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

Throughout this whole project I have used various different hardware and software to enable me to produce the best product that I could. When I was taking my images to use within my pages I used a nikon d300s sb24 with a flash 12-24 mm and a nikon wide angel lens attatched. I have been able to expand my knowledge in this course when it comes to my use of a camera and being able to set up a shot to make it relevant to my page.

In order to produce my final piece and all my course work i have had to use a range of different software such as:  blogger, word, slideshare and wordle all of these examples of web 2.0 helped by advances in technology. However the main software which I used to make my product was photoshop, after making my product I have learnt many more techniques.

Question 5 - How did you attract/address your audience?

In order to answer question 5 i have interviewed a member of my TA and asked them what it is they thought of my magazine. I asked him:

• what draws your attention to the product?
• what genre is it and how did you know?
• what do you consider are the strengths of the product?
• what social groups does it represent and how?
• would you purchase this product and why?
• how would you improve the product?

Question 4 - Who would be the audience for your media product?

When looking at the general market for my music magazine the general audience of people that would be interested in buying my magazine would be people that are in their late teens/early twenties, however my magazine concentrates on a more niche market. This was the market of people who are in a band and are trying to make it into the music industry.  This is because I am trying to make my magazine to appeal more so to those who are in a band themselves and want to become recognised within the music industry. The reasoning for me picking this TA is that I have not seen a magazine that attempts to appeal to this TA before. By spotting this gap in the market I feel that it would make my magazine sell well as this is clearly something that has never been done before. Another reasoning for me feeling that my magazine would sell well is the questionnaire which I did earlier on within the task. (I asked them if they felt that the genre of up and coming bands was a good market) my reasoning for me feeling that this would be a good indicator for my magazine selling is that the idea of having a up and coming rock band magazine was nearly completely thought of as a good idea by my TA. 

Customer Profile

My genre of music is new up and coming rock bands, the Target Audience for this magazine are both male and female’s, between 15-25 years old and possibly are stating a new band or a in a new band. 

This is Sam Carden he is 16, male and currently is doing his A levels. In his spare time he enjoys meeting up with his friends and practicing in there new band. He listens to lots of different music but the band is currently only doing covers of other artists.

The reason that I feel my magazine could appeal to someone like sam is that it would be full of bands stories of how they were able to make it in the music industry and also because the magazine could be full of tips as to how it is they are able to write there own music and produce it. 

Question 3 – what kind of media institution might be able to distribute your media magazine and why?

If my magazine was to be printed by a media institution there are two roads that I would go down, one of these is that I would choose to use an institution that is not well known and instead one that is just starting and attempting to become big. I would do this as it would support the whole idea of my magazine, as the entire magazine is a about supporting people and enabling them to become well known and well branded, this would essentially support the morals of my magazine. However I also would be able to do the complete opposite, and this would be to use a huge well established institution. The reasoning for this is that it enables the magazine to have a much wider distribution,  by making it wide spread it means that the TA I am attempting to appeal to would be much more accessible, meaning that the magazine would be able to support many more people in their attempts 
to produce music, which is the whole idea of the magazine.


I would have my product also distributed online, this is because my TA is mainly the younger generation this means that modern technology is used on a daily basis by them so using it as a way to draw them in and appeal to them. I would give my magazine a online presence with it's own website and also give it pages on social networking sites e.g. facebook, myspace, twitter.

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

When thinking about how my media products represents specific social groups, I must think about my initial TA (Target Audience) . I outlined who I felt to be my TA early on within my blog; I described my TA to be someone who is in their late teens to early twenties, who are in a new band or trying to start a new band. This TA I feel is a niche and in order to appeal to them I have stuck with a theme that I feel suits that age range at the moment. I have done this using bold colours all the way through my magazine, as my house style only using the colours blue, red, white and black. I feel by using simple bold simple colours I am appealing to my TA, this is because I am following the conventions of Q magazine, as they are trying to appeal to the same age range as I am. I am using the same conventions as Q not in the sense that I am using their colour scheme, instead I am attempting to follow their use of clean lines with contrasting bold colours. 

My magazine however contrasts Q magazine in other ways, for instance: my magazine is supporting the theme of rock bands. Q simply follows popular culture, so in order to make that difference clear I have used things such as rugged fonts where the text looks ripped apart or jagged. My colour scheme is also darker than that of Q (but still clean and well cut) which would connote to the reader the genre of "rock" as darker colour schemes would be found in music magazines such as karrang.

Another way that I have enabled my music magazine to appeal to my social group was to have my band for the magazine playing their instruments within their studio, by seeing the guitars and the drums anyone that saw the magazine would instantly recognise that it would be of the rock genre and if my TA was to see it on the shelf of a newsagents or supermarket would know that it was a rock magazine and would then pick it up and buy it as it would appeal to them.

My TA however was not just young people who liked rock music, I also said that it was people in up and coming bands, so in order to support this side of my TA I have used my magazines masthead  along with the headers on the front of the page. When you looked at my magazine you would see that it was called “UPRISING” I have intentionally called it this so that it connotes not only rock music as it gives off the sense of rebellion that rock music will often support, but also it connotes up and coming bands, which is the TA for my music magazine. The headers also support my TA as one of them says “getting signed”. Anyone from my TA that is in a band will see this and be intrigued as they themselves would want to themselves and their band to be signed, so this would lure them into buying the magazine in order to read the article.

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

Question 1

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