1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of music magazines)
I feel as though my double page spread was unique as it isn’t inspired by any other magazines and is fairly different to others. The layout of text is fairly common as it is split into 3 columns and across 2 pages. My contents page was fairly similar to a contents page from Vibe magazine. I went for the same layout with a large title at the top of the page, a very large outstanding picture down the left half of the page and then the text with all the pages and what the pages include down the right side of the page. I also attempted to make my front cover appealing to my audience but also different to others in that genre. Normally the layout in this genre is fairly busy with lots of text and a large image, commonly a close up of the artists face. I tried to put a large mid shot on my cover so they get a feel of what he is like with his attire and gestures. Also I didn’t put too much text on the cover so that they focused on the artists name and the picture.
2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
I have attempted to apply it to a social group that enjoy hip hop music through many different methods, one of these is my colour scheme as I have tried to make it mainly dull with some vibrant text to stand out. The colour scheme is fairly simple as it consists of; grey, white and blue. This represents my social group by as they are fairly masculine colours which coincides my target audience for mainly males.
My pictures that I used are effective with all this as I have put the image in a black and white effect therefore allowing it to fit in. This applies again to my social group as they can relate to his attire and his personality through his gestures and facial expressions.
I have inserted a picture of an iPod surrounded by some extremely good headphones that are associated with artists in this genre of music. I feel this represents that social group because they are items associated with the group.
My age range is roughly between 15 – 25. I feel I have hit this as it has a vibrant approach which is a correlation with their ages.
3. What kind of media institution might distribute your product and why?
I would use a distribution company such as Worldwide Magazine Distribution Ltd. This is because they distribute many different genres of magazines to a worldwide audience for different needs. They distribute a lot of these magazines, ‘over the last 12 months have distributed 9,000,000 magazines’. I would be able to distribute it to my target audience fairly easy. It would be beneficial to me as I would be able to sell my magazine on a global basis therefore broadening my target audience to different nationalities and this would encourage them to distribute my magazine.
4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
My audience would be mainly young males between 15 – 25 that enjoy listening to hip hop. They will be very ‘up to date’ with fashion and music as it’s a quick moving genre as regards to these. The audience needs to be different as they are a social group that stick together like a community. They need to be extremely into my genre of music and also want to follow what their favourite artists are up to as regards to fashion and lifestyle. It will mainly be young American males that will purchase this product.
5. How did you attract/address your audience?
I attempted to attract my audience with my front cover by making my model big so it stands out along with the name of the artist in a large font so they can clearly see who it is. I tried to make the model appeal to people who follow the genre I selected by dressing him in a certain way and also with his facial expressions and gestures. I also tried to attract my audience by making a cover that looks professional but also isn’t too overwhelming for them or too much to take in. I tried to attract them through the language I used such as ‘exclusive’ as they make them sound attractive.
6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Throughout making my product I have learned many different types of software and technologies as I gained experience by using them all. I have used ‘photoshop’ regularly. This is known as a professional photo editing suite, I have found out it is much more. I used photoshop to create all of my magazine pieces, this was because I could crop images and edit them to a level of good presentation to attract my audience.
I have learnt how to take a professional looking photo; I have adapted this by considering backgrounds, attire and the expressions or gestures made by the model. I have also learnt about how it will look on the page, lighting, type of shot and also angle. This was all through my experiences of trying to get acceptable shots for my magazine. I got all my inspirations from using such search engines like ‘google’ to see other magazines in my genre. I looked for such things as how they presented their artists, where they were positioned, the backgrounds and props.
I have learned how to use such tools as; ‘animoto’, ‘prezi’, ‘scribd’ and ‘slideshare’. These are all used to present things on my blog.
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?
I feel I have learned how to use photoshop and a many more tools to create and present my created magazine. I know what styles and also which tools work well on photoshop such as the ‘lasso’ tool and the black and white function.
