AS Foundation Media

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

My media product has many conventions of already existing magazines. My research of other magazines came very helpful in the construction of my magazine because I used different aspects of those magazines in my own magazine.

For my front cover I got the idea of a serious, medium close up shot from VIBE's Drake issue cover that I researched and analysed. I liked the sophisticated minimalistic approach to it and I wanted to convey the same effects in my own work. I stole the + sign idea because it had a good feel and 'vibe' to it, it gives off a positive feeling and doesn't make the cover seem simple and boring. Because of the vertical line it links with the I in VIBE and makes the page have synergy. I wanted to have the same effect of synergy so it was lucky that I had an I in my masthead. I also liked the way that there was only one colour on the front cover. One colour that stood out, so I went for the same idea on my own magazine. I had a black and white image with one outstanding colour for the masthead and coverlines. This colour scheme created synergy throughout the magazine and made it all link together. Another way I linked it together was by having the 'P' from Playlist in the corner of every page. This is to again have an element of synergy throughout.

My original contents page before I changed it was much like the Billboard contents page that I analysed. Again it went for a minimalistic look with one image to the right of the page and the actual contents on the left. I liked this layout but in order for me to get the marks I had to change the layout and have more images.

My double page spread was a mixture of both VIBE and Billboard magazine. The VIBE dps that I analysed had all the writing on one page with the image on the other. That's what I did, but I also added a touch of Billboard with the image going onto the next page and the text wrapping around the image. I thought about the layout quite a lot with this because I wanted to construct it interestingly and different to other existing magazines, and I think my dps does exactly that.

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

My magazine represents a sophisticated social group. Although it is based on an R&B singer, I had a sophisticated approach to it that my target audience will still like it even though it's perhaps different to what they would usually like. Sometimes a change is good.

My sophisticated approach was achieved by having the model in a suit and tie. Although this isn't stereotypically what an R&B artist would wear, his style and identity is shown by him wearing it. It shows that he isn't stereotypical and he does his own thing. I chose a male model because I think it is a typical gender for R&B music. Such as Drake and Usher. Because R&B music has such a wide range of singers and styles, a lot of music actually falls under the R&B category. But a lot of them also come under pop music. I am focusing on just the R&B artists. You will find there are actually more female R&B artists than male artists, but to me when I think of R&B I think of male artists either singing or in the case of Drake, rapping as well. But he doesn't do fast rapping, he does soulful rapping and also singing. That's his style that he has owned spectacularly.

I chose the simple font of Franklin Gothic Medium for the coverlines so it looked minimalistic and not like it was trying too hard and becomes overcrowded. The masthead was chosen out of hundreds because it was bold so it stood out well but not boring so it wouldn't be exciting. My colour scheme also made it look sophisticated. Overall this sophisticated approach worked well in representing the R&B music. Anyone who likes R&B music will love my sophisticated take on an R&B magazine and will be ready for more to come.

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

Bauer Media will publish my magazine because it is Europe’s largest privately owned publishing Group. It is a worldwide media empire offering over 300 magazines in 15 countries, as well as online, TV and radio stations. Magazines such as Kerrang, Empire and many womens magazines are published by Bauer. Bauer Media manages a portfolio of more than 600 magazines, over 400 digital products and 50 radio and TV stations around the world. Therefore a very popular publisher for my magazine.

I thought that if I used a well known, successful publisher then my magazine would become as popular as existing magazines that are loved by the public.

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

My target audience for my magazine is male and female age 16-25. I chose this audience because I knew they would be attracted to my style of magazine. My appoach of sophisticated and non-gender specific makes the magazine appeal to both genders and a wide range of different people. The ideology of the model wearing a suit appeals to both male and female because each gender has their own specific ideas of it, thoughts and point of views. The male audience appeal to the magazine because they relate to the model of same gender and idolize them and look up to them. Whereas the female audience are just attracted to the model because of his looks and his suave appearance. I attracted my audience to the magazine by having online advertisements such as on websites and social networks like Facebook and Twitter. I did this because my target audience are the main users of those social networks, therefore are most likely to see the ads. I also released an online addition so my audience of younger people can read it on the go, whether it's their mobile or tablet. I also put the ad in existing magazines aimed for the same target audience so they specifically would see it and appeal to it because it is being advertised in magazines that they already like. Another way I got the audience's attention is by having a cheaper first issue than usual price and then the second issue onwards go back up to full price. I did this because the audience can buy the first issue to see whether they like it as a trial and if they do they will be willing to just pay 99p more onwards after that.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

I attracted my audience to my magazine with the front cover, it's the first thing you see of the magazine so it has to stand out. I used a medium close up shot for my image which is a typical magazine shot, and I chose a photograph with direct eye contact so that he is looking right at the reader. This draws the reader in and makes them want to read the magazine. I wanted to have a bold masthead so that when the magazines are standing on the shelves all stacked up behind other magazines, all you can see is the top few inches. The masthead is very important in that aspect because if that's all you can see, you want to be able to make the reader still want to pick it up, which is when they will see the image and be drawn in. Because it is such a bold font that I used, I felt it needed to be a bright, outstanding colour. So I chose blue to go with my colour scheme because blue appeals to both genders, it is not aimed at just one gender. I then added the blue in with the coverlines to have synergy all over the page as well as in the magazine. The + sign gives off a positive feeling and doesn't make the cover seem simple and boring. Because of the vertical line it links with the I in Playlist so there is more synergy on the page. I made the sign blue as well to have two ways of linking with the masthead and the rest of the magazine. My grey scale and blue colour scheme worked well because it gave me diversity in what shades I could do for the coverlines. I had to do lighter colours on the bottom half of the coverlines because the image is black and I had to have darker colours for the top half of the coverlines because the image is a light grey. It was hard to get an in-between where the coverlines went off the model's shoulder and onto the background because it had to stand out equally so you could actually read it. I managed it in the end but it took a few re-shufflings. The way the main coverline continues above the barcode I think works well. The way I used an asterisk to point out where the rest of it was made a little game on the page and I think that worked well. It gave it little hidden secrets within the coverlines and it was something else to make blue, mainly so it would stand out so they couldn't be missed but also to link with the hints of blue theme. The way I made this so it would attract my specific target audience was by having the simple colour scheme and the bold font. Because it is different to a lot of other music magazines the audience will want to have a look at it to see what it's about and like it because it is them that it is out there appealing to. I think overall that this cover attracts my audience and draws them in to the magazine well.

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

The construction of this product has made me learn how to use software such as Photoshop and InDesign. Before I started, I didn't know how to use either of them, but now I have spent the last few months using and working with them I know all about them. I didn't need any training for them, I just explored them to see what I could do and in no time I knew them inside out. Another technology I learnt to use was Blogger. I have never had a blog before and I had no idea what to do and how to use it. I have never had to produce all work on a computer before, for GCSE Media I had a folder that was like my blog. It was a change to what I was used to, but I adapted to that change and I think my blog is pretty good now. Also having a blog feels more professional and official, like it's the real deal and not just a mess about class. I have come to love media and I want to have a career to do with it.

A website that I used to find my masthead on (fontspace.com) came in handy a lot because it had thousands to choose from and I found my perfect font on there. I searched all through Dafont.com but couldn't find anything that I liked so I thought I would explore different websites. I was quite disappointed that I didn't find a font on Dafont because I have always used that website, I used it for my GCSE magazine fonts and I was hoping to find another perfect font for this one too, but no luck.

I have learnt many different ways that technology works and what it can do. I think I have created a well designed magazine that was made by me from scratch using extremely clever software that I not only know how to use, but I can master it and make fantastic products.

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

In the progression from my preliminary task to my final music magazine I have learnt a lot. I am more confident with Photoshop, I know how to use InDesign better than before and I learnt lots of new skills and tricks to make my magazine better. I did a lot of research on existing magazines so I could take some tips from them and put them in mine magazine to make it better. When I look at my two front magazines that I produced I can easily see the progression I made and can identify the things I knew I needed to better, and I did them. You can also see the things that I knew worked well in my college magazine and carried on to do in my music magazine. You can see that the front covers have a change. I think my college magazine is good, but it was a bit too crowded. I am glad I made the decision to so a minimalistic cover because it really suits the style. I think the style of the college magazine suits the theme/genre of it but it wouldn't suit my music genre. You can also see the change in colour scheme. For my college magazine I had quite a wide range of colours, whereas my music magazine has a simplistic colour scheme. I am glad I made it more simplistic because the college magazine looks too busy. Another difference is that in my music magazine I made the coverlines smaller and had a few more of them, but only on one side. A similarity was the main coverline, it was in the same place but I made it more content and together. The college magazine's main coverline was quite large and spread out, but I made my music magazine's smaller and classier. My contents pages are quite similar actually. That's because I knew that it worked well and it turned out fantastically. I wanted to recreate the same effect with my music magazine. I had quite similar images on the contents. As you can see, I used the same model. I came to the conclusion that the one main image next to the contents was a good idea and I wanted to have a successful outcome as much as I did in my preliminary task.

This is the construction of my double page spread. This has been the hardest task for me, but it went the way I wanted it to.
When I first thought about how I was going to do this I was completely unsure, but after I looked at existing magazines and did my research I came up with the perfect plan. I thought of an image in my head of what I wanted for my photograph (this was before my photoshoot) and on my mood board there are the images of Drake sitting on a chair. I wanted to have something like that to then go onto the next page. When I then had my photoshoot I got the perfect position and I was picturing in my mind what it would be like. I had to flip the photo round so it could go on the first page, but that wasn't a problem. It may have taken longer than I wanted it to in InDesign, but I got there in the end and started to put it together. I came up with the idea to cut the photo wear the page ends in the middle and just have the feet on the side of the next page, to then have the text wrap around the image. That went all fine until I started writing up my interview. I don't know why but I struggled to get the text to go round the feet and the M at the beginning would not cooperate so I had to do it in a very interesting and more complex than it should've been way. Typing up the interview was what took the longest. I had writing a draft by hand so I was trying my hardest to type it up and get it all to fit. It took me ages and I had to make a lot of alters but I did it and now I looks amazing.
When I started the dps, I was just going to have the one image. When I then had the issue with original images I added my favourite image from the photoshoot into the top right corner to fill the space out and I then added a baby picture of the model to where I was talking about when he was little. I did take that photo myself, but it was a photo of a photo. So I should think that counts. I had the elements of blue all over the page to have that synergy with the colour scheme and the rest of the magazine. There isn't much blue, but there is just enough. You can't have too much blue or it would override the grey scale in the colour scheme.