Before starting to create my magazine I researched other magazine that represented the same type of genre to see what conventions I would need to use in order to create the same effect, and also to develop the ideas used in real magazines and make it into something unique. Now that i have finished my magazine, I can see the similarities between the real media products and the differences in which i have developed the ideas. Similarities that I have used in my magazine and in magazines such as NME are the the use of plain colour schemes and having a bold image which stands out I have also used text that has a colour background, which has a ripped effect. In most magazines I analysed the use of overlapping images was a constant convention so I also used this on my magazine, in all of the pages. I have also used a main large image in the centre of the page and this is a convention of any typical music magazine, and added smaller images around it to show other features of the magazine. On my contents page I also used the convention of overlapping images, to give a rebellious view, which could also be included in the representation of genre, by doing this I created continuity (flow) throughout each of the magazine pages. Another typical music magazine convention for contents pages is by using a list of the artist that are being featured and images of these, this is so the reader can find what they are looking for easier. In most magazines the contents page also has a small paragraph about the editors of the magazine, so i also used this on my contents page by using a small section about the editors "visiting the beach". The reason for doing this is so that the appearance of the magazine matches that of a real music magazine.
My media product represents a stereotypical punk rock social group, but also targets the teenage audience, I know my magazine targets a younger audience by using the idea of a teenage feature artist, which could be seen as representing the audience. This will also attract a younger audience as they can relate to the feature of the magazine. I have represented the stereotypical view of a punk rock social group by using a "messy" layout, as this can be a representation of this type of social group as they appear to have a messy/unorganised lifestyle, I have also used a stereotypical colour scheme for this group of people, by using black and greys as black is seen as the colour of rebellion, by being dark and mysterious. This can be seen on my main image which I took on the front page splash were the girl is wearing black clothing and also is wearing thick black eyeliner, which is another stereotypical image of targeted audience by using the idea of dark accentuating black eye make up. On my contents pages I have also used images of teenagers which will link in with the front page splash, on the contents page i ave used the same features as the front page but used different photographs that have been manipulated in different ways, this is to add variation to the magazine as you would not want to read a magazine that only featured one photograph of the main article, so on this photo i have used a close-up shot, but have kept the idea of the dark cat-eye make-up but i have changed the angle that the shot has been taken, so in this picture the artist is looking directly at the camera, which could represent the idea that the model is inviting the audience into the picture, which in order will make the audience read the article. In the double page spread it also uses images of the teenage featured artist, which keeps the continuity of using the target audience as the main ideas behind the magazine.
The types of media institution that might distribute my media product are television advertisements, as this is how many magazines are publicised, the television channel that advertises the magazine may have links to the magazine such as the type of music that is featured on both. So Punk music channels may may distribute the magazine on their channel. As it will target their audience, and the channel will also benefit from making a profit, for advertising the magazine. Music stores may also distribute music magazine if they both relate to the same types of music. for the same reasons as the television channel, it will publicise the product which in order will create profit for the music store that sells the magazine.
The audience for my media product are young teenage people that follow the punk rock image and lifestyle. The reason for choosing to do a magazine for this audience is because it can reach a wide range of people, as punk rock music is very popular with people of all ages, the reason for targeted teenagers, is because they will be more interested in keeping up with modern trends which in order will always make the magazine sustainable as there is always new artists and fashion trends to create articles on. I also chose this age group as I am in this age group, which made it easy for me to relate to the audience and feature articles that the audience would like to read. I created a questionnaire to find out if the magazine would appeal to people of this age group and this is what the results came out as.
Do you believe that my magazine represents the chosen genre?
All answered yes
What could i have done to improve the magazine front cover?
Shown more features that would have been included in the magazine.
What could i have done to improve the contents page?
add more detail, include more pages as it is very brief
What could i have done to improve my double page spread?
Included more appropriate questions that would interest the reader
I attracted/addressed the audience by using ideas that will appeal to them, by using features that are up to date and modern such as the colour schemes and the way the magazine has been laid out, by also using language that is modern such as slang modern terms, this is another way of attracted an audience as they can relate to the language used. Examples that i have used of slang language is on the front splash, were i have used a tag line that says "tha onli music mag you need" by using words like mag which are abbreviations, this appeals to the target audience as they will use abbreviated language. Language like this is only used on younger generation magazines and would not be found in magazines about classical or old folk music.
I have learnt by creating a magazine about using technology from the processes of constructing this product.The main programs we used to construct this magazine is Publisher and Adobe photoshop, with using these I already know the basic skills, but I developed these by using tools on the program Publisher, on this program I created the main front page splash, contents page and double page spread. i learned how to use tools such as how to edit wrap points around an image, which enables to be able to fit text around the image. I also learned how to overlap text and images, to create a collage effect. Also I learned how to apply different thickness of borders around images to make them stand out. For my photographs I used a photoshop program were I could manipulate the original image to give a unique effect, on this I changed the tones and and tints of the image, either changing the image to be black and white, or adding tints of colour to brighten an image in certain places to add contrast. As with the main image on the front page splash I added a pale orange tint around the image, whilst giving the model a sharper edge by altering the brightness and contrast. After editing the images I used the wrap point tool on publisher to make the images fit the page without having extra white borders around them. This helped to make my magazine feel more original and give the effect that i wanted to achieve, as i would not have been able to achieve this if i did not use these programs.
Looking back at my preliminary task, I feel that during the progression to create the full product I have learnt how to use the Publisher program to the best of my ability, I have also thought more about my main task and put more effort and with the added research I feel that I achieved a better result, then I did with the preliminary task, as the music magazine looks more realistic than the college magazine. With my college magazine I believed that the more features I put on the front page splash the better, but I have found with the music magazine that to make it more realistic not to make the front page to busy as this will just confuse the reader, as they will not be able to focus on the main image/article. I have progressed in skills on photo editing as with my preliminary task, I only cropped the photograph to make it able to fit the page and this was the only editing skills that I knew how to use. So I have progressed positively as my music magzine images I was able to use different tools such as contrast and brightness editing to make the most of my overral image. With all the added research and analysing other music magazine front pages, content pages and double page spread I feel I had better knowledge on what conventions I had to include in my magazine, so this made the construction easier. I believe that the added knowledge of computer skills has also made my music magazine to the best of my ability.
