Laura Dobson POST 1.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (I.e. of music magazines) Some of the conventions that I looked at when researching magazines is the use of cover lines to give the reader a quick glimpse of what types of stories are going to be included in the magazine. I found that on most magazines the cover lines on the magazine have to stand out on the front cover to catch the readers eye, to use this convention on my media product, I used cover lines at the side of the front cover and also made them a different colour so they stood out on the page and are easy to read. Another convention that I researched when completing my research and planning was that the masthead appears mostly across the top of the page, so when using this convention I made the masthead appear across the top of the page, because this is what is mainly featured on most magazines.

For my fonts, I decided to use a bold font, for the mast head so that it stands out on the magazine; I have also decided to use the same font for the title on the contents so that a house style is carried through the magazine. I got this idea from billboard magazine, which is one of the magazines I looked at for inspiration because they use the same font for the masthead and the contents title, however on the cover they include different bold colours to make the masthead too stand out. For the colour scheme I had originally decided to use pastel colours such as pale pink and yellow, which I had used for the draft. For the final magazine I changed the colour scheme to include one pale colour which is a pale pink and two bolder colours white and black for the text. Using the bolder colours meant that the paler pink stands out more in the magazine and doesnt clash with the other colours. I have developed this convention because most pop magazines tend to use a bright bold colour as well as black and white, but I wanted to make my colour scheme different from most magazines so that my magazine stands out from other magazines. In the images that I took for the artist I made the costume look casual, by making the artist wear jeans and a top which features the word LOVE which stands out in the image. I also made the artist look smart by including a blazer. I decided to make the artist look both smart and casual to create a mood for the magazine which is why I tried to use pastel colours, because most pop magazines are vibrant and create a loud vibe of which I didnt want to create so by having the artist in smart/casual clothes meant that I created a relaxed vibe. For the page layouts, I have decided to use various columns on my contents page because what I found when researching music magazine is that this convention is used regularly in magazines and so I wanted to reflect

Laura Dobson that design in my music magazine. Another reason that I decided to use columns was because it makes my contents page clear and easy for the reader to read and so it is clear for them if they want to turn to a specific page in the magazine. For the layout of my front cover, I decided to place all of the cover lines on just the left side of the page so that it doesnt overlap the image of the artist that is the main feature of the cover. Also on the cover I decide to pace the masthead across the top of the page because I found that when researching and planning, magazines either have a masthead along the top of the page or just a logo in the top corner.

PREZI

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My pop music magazine could represent a particular social group called the trendies because the genre of my magazine is pop and so the trendies would normally listen to the average popular music. The artists that my magazine will feature are well-know artists such as Adele, Olly Murs and also new and upcoming artist such as the one featured on the cover. The artist featured on the cover of my magazine is an upcoming artist that the trendies as a social group may be interested in, I created an artist profile about my artist to give the audience some background information about her. The artist that will feature on my magazine is called Millie Pope; she is a 17 year old talented singer and is the daughter of a famous music producer who is trying to make a name for herself as a singer. She enjoys listening to pop music and her favourite artists are Beyonc, Katy Perry and Lady Gaga the genre of music that she creates is pop and aspires to be a famous independent singer and a good role model to the younger generations much like her favourite artists. In the future Millie dreams of sharing the stage with famous faces like Adele who she looks up to because she is a good role-model to her fans. The reason that I have chosen this artist to feature on the front of this magazine is because the artist is independent and an upcoming artist that the audience will recognise and enjoy. This is the artist profile that I created to show what kind of artist will be featured in my magazine and to show which social groups may be interested in my magazine.

ANIMOTO 3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
When researching, I found different media institutions that could distribute my pop magazine, and I thought that Bauer media group could publish my magazine. They publish magazine genres of magazines such as fashion and TV as well as music magazines, and so because they publish so many popular magazines they will have a wide and loyal readership which could introduce a wider audience to my magazine if they published it. Bauer media distributes 300 magazines in 15 different countries and so are a famous worldwide distribution company. Some of the most popular magazines which Bauer media distribute include; Q magazine, Kerrang and pop magazine which focuses on rock and pop so my magazine Chart which is a pop magazine would fit in with the genres they distribute. This institution could distribute my magazine in several ways including drawing up publicity for my magazine using the radio stations that they distribute, which include kiss and magic which mainly broadcast pop songs on their radio shows which may have the same audience as a magazine of my genre which is pop,

Laura Dobson they could even distribute my magazine through subscription in the post for subscribers, as well as on magazine stands in shops and supermarkets which is the most common way in which a magazine is sold. This media distributer would be able to make a successful launch for my magazine which could give it a wider readership level because of the popularity of the distributer. Some of the magazines that may have been released in a similar way to my magazine would be Q magazine because it is sold both in shops and also in it is sold through subscribers, which could be similar to my magazine.

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

When researching music magazines I looked at the age group that existing magazines where aimed at and for pop magazines I found that there arent many that are aimed at teenagers and young adults as they are mostly aimed at young children, so I wanted to create a magazine that was aimed at late teens to early 30s because there isnt a pop magazine that is aimed at this age and so therefore I thought that because there is a gap in the market for this magazine I would aim it at this age. I also think that with the colours I used it would be a good age to aim my magazine at because young children tend to prefer bright, vibrant colours and older people such as adults would prefer lighter colours. To gain a female audience which is what my target audience is, I decided to use a female model for the main images in my magazine; I also used a pale pink/ orange font to gain a female audience. The audience of my magazine would be someone who listens to a lot of pop music and enjoys reading about their favourite artist.

POWERPOINT 5. How did you attract/address your audience?

To address the audience of my magazine, I used a pastel colour along with black and white to stand out and attract a female audience. My original idea was to use pastel colours, but when handing in my original draft I decided that the colours would clash and so I then used one pastel colour along with black and white so that it stands out. This would attract the audience because most magazines use bold colours such as red or blue along with black and white. Using a lighter colour with these two colours is different and will standout on the shelves along with other magazines that are sold. So to attract a mainly female audience and so will include a pale pink pastel colour and a female artist on the cover and throughout the magazine. Also other than using the colours I will write about mainly female artists that they will be interested in.

Laura Dobson

SCRIBD 6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
I have developed many skills from using Photoshop to create my music magazine, as at the beginning of this process I had never used Photoshop before and now I have developed a magazine that is fitting to what was required for my coursework. I also developed some camera skills as I looked at lighting and how to develop a good photograph. I have also learnt how to use Animoto as I used this program to develop a video to use when giving my pitch for my magazine; I used this to create a good pitch with visual prompts. Another technology that I used was Prezi which is different presentation software I had never used it before this task and am now confident with using it to create a good presentation. Before starting this course I had never set up a blog before and so it was a skill that I had learnt and developed in order to complete my coursework. I used various different websites when creating this product; I used DaFont to use different, creative fonts other than the basic ones that are on Photoshop. This website helped me developed the type face of my magazine. I also used blogger to present the majority of my coursework which I had never used before I started this course. This helped me to develop a skill that I could use later in life as I now know how to create a blog. Another way that I presented my work was using scribd. Which is used to upload large word documents and embed them into a blog, it is also a way of sharing files. For many of these technologies I had never used them prior to creating this magazine and so over this period I have learned how to use them successfully.

Laura Dobson

PHOTOSHOP 7. Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?
The main progression looking back at my preliminary task is that I am now able to use the software more and have learned many skills from this. From my preliminary task, I have learnt how to use different techniques to create a music magazine and have learnt how to make a magazine become a different genre because my preliminary task was to create a school magazine and so I have used different techniques to create my final media product which is a pop music magazine. I feel that from when I first started using Photoshop for my preliminary and the progression I have made to create a final magazine has been a big step as I have developed many skills and looked at how magazines are put together so that I could create a successful one as my final product. Compared to my prelim task I feel that I have focused a lot on the Mise of scene and the colours that I used in my final product and focused on the lighting of my product as well as the photos that I used as these are one of the most important parts of a magazine. In my prelim task I had no general colour scheme and just used different colours on the front cover for the cover lines and black and pink for the font on the contents page. So to improve my skills I thought about the colour scheme of my music magazine and stuck with it throughout the final product. My knowledge of magazine conventions has drastically improved and i can know identify different parts of the magazine and the conventions that are used regularly as before I had not noticed or particularly looked for them.