1.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and

conventions of real media products?

My media product, - a cultural music magazine, uses the basic conventions of real media
products such as: advertisements, giveaways etc.

I compared my magazine to another top selling cultural magazine called Dazed & Confused. I
used a similar style posed picture on the front, but instead of having a plain background like
Dazed & Confused, I chose a more colourful background of a jungle to connote the cultural
theme of my magazine and the niche audience it is targeting.
I used a chunky font for my magazine’s title on my cover, which is similar to Dazed &
Confused’s title. I did this to make the title stand out and appeal to the audience.
The colours for the text on the cover of Dazed & Confused are all quite plain and the colours
match with the image; however for my magazine, I used colours for my text that stood out
against the main image and background, I also placed them on a banner to help them stand
out and look bold.
The contents page for Dazed & Confused is very plain with several images placed next to the
page numbers; I decided to keep my magazine’s contents page simplistic but I placed an
advertisement in the bottom corner to advertise my magazine to the audience.
Dazed & Confused’s double page spreads are also fairly plain that are usually based on
fashion more than anything else; as my magazine is a music magazine I didn’t want long
shots that were posed. Instead, I wanted an image that would connote cultural music and look
different to usual band images. So I used bold makeup and used several close up images to
look unique.

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

 Makeup – cultural, extreme, arty

Costume – nothing specific

Models – both male and female, no specific stereotype.

Target audience – late teens to mid thirties, middle class, male and female, interested in culture and

listening to new music and new genres of music, likes finding new music that’s unheard of.

3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
 My magazine is targeted at a niche audience and therefore will most likely be an independent institution

as it covers bands that are unheard of and new genres of music. IPC would not distribute my magazine

as they distribute more mainstream magazines such as NME. However, it could be distributed by EMAP,

as the cultural fashion magazine Dazed & Confused is published by them so they could be interested in

the discovery of new music. Also Dazed & Confused is not just a magazine; it also has a website and is

part of a multi-media conglomerate. My magazine would also be a multi-media conglomerate and would

most likely to produced world wide, as it covers a range of different cultures and new music from around

the world, therefore appealing to my demographic audience.

My magazine is a specialist magazine, and it would attract a lot of advertisement as it is of a niche

category which would most likely be one of the ways it made its money if it was distributed by an

independent institution.

  

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

The audience for my magazine would be people that are interested in culture and listening to all genres

of music, they would also enjoy finding new, unheard of bands to listen to. They would be a mixed sex

and would be aged from late teens to mid thirties. My audience won’t have a specific look to them, or

wear specific clothes.

5.  How did you attract/address your audience?

 To attract my audience I have used a competition to win tickets for an up and coming band. I have also

used an arty theme for my front cover; I used Polaroid pictures to connote this artistic theme. I attracted

my audience by using a big sell line to draw the audience’s attention.

Questions 4 and 5 could be completed as one video.

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

product?

 When I constructed my product, I used a wide range of technologies to help create my magazine. To

take the pictures for my magazine I used a digital SLR camera, I already knew how to work these as I

do photography. They worked well for magazine images as they produce high quality pictures and have
a range of settings to produce many different styled pictures, - by changing the shutter speed or the

depth of field etc. Photoshop and Quark were the programmes I mostly used to create my product.

Photoshop was quite difficult to learn how to use, but once you know how to create the images you want

its fairly easy to use. Photoshop was very useful for cutting out images form a background and placing

them in front of another image. I also used Photoshop for creating the font title for my magazine, it was

easy to use and simple to create fonts and place drop shadows on it. Photoshop helped me to create

my Polaroid effect pictures on my front cover easily and effectively.

Quark was fairly more difficult to use than Photoshop, but it was a good programme to use for creating

the contents page and the double page spread. It was easier to create the text boxes and link them

together effectively so all of the text would be in line. It was also easy to create a drop cap in Quark,

which added to the style of the spread.

I used Windows movie maker to create a video for my blog, I placed together a few images and text to

talk about my magazine, the editing and making of the video was easy; however when I tried to place

the video on YouTube, it would not let me. This was the only problem I found with Windows movie

maker.

We used digital video cameras to create videos in pairs of us discussing the front cover, contents page

and double page spread of a magazine. These were very simple to use and easy to upload onto the

computer.

I used bubbl.us to create a mind map of my magazine treatment so I could demonstrate my ideas for my

magazine names and the different ideas I could try for my magazine.

You have already produced a series of Camstudio videos showing how you used Photoshop

and Quark.  You could produce some more videos of how you posted images to your blog,

and how you used other Web 2.0 applications, such as bubbl.us.  You could also discuss the

other digital technologies you used such as Digital SLRs, scanners, non-linear editing

software (Windows Movie Maker), Camstudio, digital video cameras etc.  Include a

Camstudio 'guided tour' of your blog. Narrate a commentary or use YouTube captions to these

videos discussing the advantages and disadvantages of each of these applications and
processes.

7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the

progression from it to the full product?

 
From creating my preliminary task and main task I now have a broader understanding
of the generic conventions of media texts, this has shown me the different aspects of
media advertisements and the wide variety of audiences. I can also use Photoshop
efficiently and effectively, whereas I could barely use it when we began to create our
college magazines. I can now use Quark more efficiently as well. Quark & Photoshop
have assisted me well in the making of my magazine and I would most definitely use
them again. I have also learnt how multi media conglomerates advertise to their
audiences and sell their products in magazines and on the internet etc… I have learnt
about media institution distributers

You need to describe the ways in which your understanding of the generic conventions of

media texts and your production skills have developed from the Preliminary Task to the Main

Task. Remember, your Photoshop, Quark, and Web 2.0 skills have all massively improved,

whether you think so or not! You also know a LOT MORE now about how to produce a good

magazine! The technology section of this answer could be completed as a Cam Studio video.