1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge codes and conventions of real media product?
Above are images one of my completed front cover and to the left a regular published magazine of the same genre, pop. As you can see just from looking at both images they have alot of similarities.
The masthead on my magazine is large, so it is automatically seen as the title. You can see very clearly the date and issue number, and the main image has a direct mode of address, i challenged the codes and conventions on my magazine title as i used an effect which was said to 'distract' the reader from everything else on the cover, but i decided to include this and it has made a good effect to my magazine cover as it doesnt take over too much on the page but it has the effect i wanted it to have which was to stand out alot more.
You can see from both images that the main pictures cover the title name a little, still giving you the ability to read the title name. I decided to follow the codes and conventions and not cover too much of the title as this was a new magazine i was creating and the readers could fully understand the title of what they are buying.
2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
The typical social group that represents my magazine is the social group of pop music. This is shown by the popular colour of pink that is mostly used and just generally girly. This reflects on my magazine as i have used alot of pink and yellow, which are stereotypical girl colours. I have also used girl bands and artists that girls will like in my magazine.
I have found a video of the very stereotypical social group of pop;
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgcK1FTt2OY&feature=fvw- this video is a very strong stereotype for girls, it has alot of pink and pop music.
3. What kind of institution might distribute your media product and why?
http://www.ipcmedia.com/
I would use the company IPC media as it produces a wide range of genres including music. IPC media is one of the UK’s leading publishers selling 350 million copies a year. They publish different genres. This will help my product sell more. More information is on the website (the link above). IPC Media produces over 85 iconic media brands, with their print brands alone reaching almost two thirds of UK women and 44% of UK men –almost 27 million UK adults – while their online brands collectively reach 20 million users every month.
IPC has not yet produced any Pop magazines, i think their variety of choice will be great for my product.
If i was to choose another institutem i would choose Bauer Media as they also produce music magazines, although they dont publish pop i think they could possibly in the future.
4. Who would be the audience for the media product?
The audience for my magazine would be females aged seven to sixteen. Ihave chosen up to sixteen as although your getting older alot of girls still like too see whats in the pop charts and be updated on artists such as Miley Cyrus and bands such as Girls Aloud. Here are two typical fact files on youngsters who would buy a pop magazine.
Name: Alyx Sutton
Age: 10
Hobbies: Dance, Reading, MusicFavourite movie: Princess + the Frog
Favourite singer: Miley Cyrus
Favourite Colour: Pink
Name: Fern Devon Age: 16
Hobbies: Going out, Music
Favourite movie: Honey
Favourite singer: Jonas Brothers
Favourite Colour: Pink
-These profiles are the perfect consumer, as they are both interested in everything my magazine has to offer them.
5. How did you attract/address your audience?
To attract my target audience i used colours which were bright and would stand out, also by getting the results completely true on my questionnaires. I used the colours the participants had chose, and the same for all the questions. For my main image i used a large,close up shot which was not used with the colour pink as much so it was also able to stand out. I used features that would appeal to the audience as my magazine cover was based on the audience and what they would like to buy.
6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Whilst constructing my product i got more familiar with both Photoshop and Quark Express. To start with it was harder to understand quark as there was more to remember and the layout was a little more confusing than photoshop, although i wasnt to confident using photoshop again as i hadnt used it in a long time and i could hardly remember how to used most the tools, but below i have added a few videos of myself using a few tools from both photoshop and quark.
VIDEO WONT UPLOAD
Quark Express- Quark: I have used Quark Xpress to produce and create my double page spread and my contents page.
Camera- I used the camera to take photos, for my main image, and supporting images and all three products.
Video Camera- I have used a video camera, to get videos of clients that would possibly buy my magazine. And for videos of myself and others talking about and showing my work.
Blackberry mobile- I used this technology because it was easy to access and I could have it handy anytime necessary.
Internet- I used this for research, and it was also easy to access.
Computer- I used the computer to create my product, without this i would not have been able too.
Photoshop- I used photo shop to make my front cover as well as adding effects to different photos.
7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
When i look back at my preliminary task i think i have stepped my work up alot, i feel as i have learnt alot more about the codes and conventions of magazines in general. The more i read over the codes and conventions the more knowledge i learnt from it, it has shown me the mistakes i made making my preliminary. I am also now alot more familiar with the tools of photoshop and quark express which has made it alot easier and has saved time. And i am very happy with the outcome of my final product.
