Q1.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? Front cover- Similarities RAVE! VS Masthead Cover lines Dominant Image (rule of thirds) and plain background Billboard

Date & Price

The differences between the front covers RAVE! VS

The use of sell lines are different because I used sell lines that my audience would want as showed by my audience research There are different colours used as my audience research showed that my audience wants a variety of bright colours that stand out. I used an footer on my front cover to feature more artists and make my magazine seem more packed and appealing for my audience as it was shown by my audience research that they want a jam packed magazine with lots of information about R&B/hiphop artists

Billboard

My magazine has a barcode on the front cover whereas billboards magazine does not

My choice of image is very different because Billboard is not a magazine for just hip-hop & R&B, and I wanted my image to target an audience who particularly like these two genres of music, so I wanted my image to show more attitude and to be more bold and emphasised. Where as Billboard use an image which is softer and more subtle. Although if I had the chance again I think I would change my image because I dont think it represents the hip-hop genre or reflects the stereotypical hip-hop look, for example the use of bling etc

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? Contents page- Similarities RAVE! VS
Titles are used to separate the different sections in the magazine

Billboard

Initial masthead and date is used on both contents pages

Four images are used related to the text on the contents page and what is in the magazine with one of the images having no background.

The differences between the contents pages RAVE! VS

My magazine is separated into two sections, R&B & hip-hop to make it clear which artists belong to which genre and make it easier for the audience to find what they are looking for

Billboard

The layout of my contents page is different, my images are more spread out instead of having text on the one side and images on the other. This is done to make my article feel more rebellious to fit in with the genres of music my magazine is based on .

My contents gives the audience information on how to subscribe. I took this idea from a different magazine contents because I thought it was a good idea and it makes the magazine look more professional and realistic.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? Double Page Spread- Similarities RAVE! VS Billboard

I used a similar colour theme for my contents page with the use of pinks, black& white. I also used the same colour for my main words/texts (pink) as the colour of the clothes that the artist who the article is about is wearing, in the same way that billboard did. E.g. Rihanna is wearing pink In the image and billboard used pink for the main words/text. In my article Dana is wearing pink and I used pink for the main words/questions. In both articles this was also done to separate the texts and different sections in the writing.

Both magazines have smaller images of the main artist with other people. Both magazines have the name of the magazine and the page number in the bottom corner of the page

The differences between the double page spreads RAVE! VS Billboard

My text is an interview where as billboard use an article. I did an interview because as she is a new singer I thought it would be an easier and better way to introduce her in the magazine and give the audience information that they would want to know about a new singer.

One page of my double page spread is dominated to images where as billboard has mainly text on the two pages, I did this to make the article more appealing and interesting and also to appeal to my audience because as shown from my audience research my audience prefer this to a more text based article.

I have took up more of the page with the title and artists name, I did this to make the name of the artist stand out so that the audience remember her and to make the article more eye catching and appealing so that I draw my audience in, I wanted to highlight these words as they are important and they tell the audience what the whole article is about.

Q2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The target audience for my magazine is females aged 15-25. For my magazine I chose to mix the two genres of R&B and hip-hop, although these two genres arent closely related, they are both popular with my age range and I wanted to include both genres within my magazine. Although hip-hop is commonly associated with males I wanted to aim my magazine at females because they also listen to this genre and I know more about what females would like in a magazine being a female who likes both of these genres myself. I tried to portray the R&B style within the image of the female, as she is wearing jewellery, has body piercings, wears more vibrant clothing, dyes her hair often and shows attitude in the picture. I tried to show the hiphop style within the image of the male because he is wearing more baggy, darker clothing and a baseball cap.

R&B is more listened to by white people that hiphop, although it is also aimed at ethnic groups. It again has a stereotypical social group of younger people and the imagery associated with R&B is jewellery, but more tight fitting clothing, glamour and colour and this music genres is popular with both genders. R&B is assocaited with more upbeat and cheerful lyrics. It is a more vibrant and happy genre than hip-hop.

The stereotypical social group for hip-hop is usually working class black males aged between 16 and 25. The imagery associated with hip-hop is usually baggy jeans, baseball caps which are worn backwards, large t-shirts and bling. Hip-hop is associated with deep meaning full lyrics that are trying to get a message across.

Q3. what kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

I think that IPC Media would distribute my media product because They produce over 85 media brands They publish a wide range of media products to suit many different types of people Two thirds of there readers consist of women and they have a wide range of audiences, so my magazine would fit in well with their audiences. IPC Media publish NME which is a leading music magazine so they have experience with publishing music magazines All their brands together reach over 20 million users every month This concludes that my magazine would be a good opportunity for IPC Media to widen their range of audiences and genres of music and therefore attract more people

I also think that Lisa Ryan Howard would distribute my media product because she is the publisher of Billboard magazine so she has experience in publishing magazines containing these genres of music. Also she has experience with managing publishers and sales division heads across multiple media as this is something she did in her previous job as a Senior Vice President, Chief Revenue Officer of Fairchild Fashion Group, the business media division of Cond Nast .Therefore she clearly has knowledge of the media industry and publishing my magazine would be a good opportunity for her to widen her expertise, skills and knowledge and gain more business.

This information was taken from: http://www.ipcmedia.com/

This information was taken from: http://www.billboard.com/footer/about-us#/foote

Q4. What would the audience be for your media product?

This is a typical member of my target audience Factfile Name: Dana Age:17 Gender: Female Appearance: T-shirts, vest tops, Skinny Jeans, Nike high tops Job: Works part time as a gymnastics coach Lives: Yardley Lives with: Mom, dad, sister& brother Siblings: Older sister (19) and older brother Pets: Dog Favourite colour: Red Favourite genre of music: R&B and Dubstep Watches TV Programmes: Take me out, Eastenders, Hollyoaks, The only way is essex She shops in: New look, Primark, west one, river island Favourite artists: Rihanna, Beyonce, DJ Fresh, Skrillex, Tempa T, Ed Sheeran, Adele Favourite food: Pizza Favourite drink: Pepsi max, alcohol Favourite possessions: laptop, phone Hobbies/Interests: Music, socialising, making new friends, jogging, taking part in charity events

I have chosen to aim my magazine at females aged 15-25 who come from any ethnic group and like R&B and hip-hop music. The majority of the images I used are of females but I have also used images of males to appeal to this group and I have used a bright variety of colours which would appeal to females but also tried to keep the colour dark in some parts to relate to the genres of music.

Q5. How did you attract/address your audience? Front cover

To attract my audience I used a variety of different bright, eye catching colours because this is what I was told most of my audience wanted from my questionnaires. I chose to use the colours red& pink for some of my sell lines to match to colours on my artists top, and I chose black for the main text again because black is on my artists top, but also because the colour stands out more on the image. I then chose to use orange as a final colour because it stands out well on the image and fits in with what my target audience want. The exclusive news and interview advertised on my front cover would attract my target audience because as shown In my questionnaire this is the main thing that would encourage my target audience to buy a music magazine and 60% of my audience wanted this in a magazine, also 90% of my audience wanted interviews. I chose interesting cover lines regarding the main topics in the magazine to put on my front cover because as shown by my target audience research this is what my audience wants and 70% of my audience wants information on particular bands/artists which is why some of my sell lines show that the magazine is going to have articles containing information about particular artists. I have included the names of R&B and hip-hop artists which are currently popular with my target audience on my front cover. This would attract my target audience because as shown in my questionnaire the main artists given from my audience were Rihanna, Beyonce, Jay-Z and Drake. 90% of my audience like Rihanna which is why I have put her name under the masthead and in red on a plain background, so that it stands out more and catches the eye of my audience.
I have used one main dominating image of a key artist on my band. This

would attract my audience because my questionnaire shows that this is what my audience prefer to see on the front cover. The price of my magazine would also attract my audience because it is an agreeable price which the audience would be willing to pay. As shown on my questionnaire 40% were willing to pay between 1-2 and 40% were willing to pay between 2-3, but I thought that it would be better to make my magazine within the 1-2 price range because it is a better value for money for the amount of pages my magazine has.

How did you attract/address your audience? Contents page

My contents page would appeal to my audience because of the pages that are in it. 70% of my audience want information on particular artists which is why I have included pages that are dominated to particular R&B and hip-hop artists in my magazine. My contents page addresses my audience because I have listed a number of things that my audience research shows that my audience want in a magazine under my PLUS section. I have used a variation of images on my contents page to attract my audience. I have edited the image of the artist which is also used on my front cover and varied her pose to make it look more interesting and appealing. I have used a different colour scheme on my contents page to make it look more interesting.

I have also included a offer in the corner of the page to attract my audience

How did you attract/address your audience? Double page spread

My double page spread attracts my audience because I have again used a variation of images. I have used different shots on the images of my artist that is featured on my front cover to make it more interesting & professional and I have also included other people in two of the images again to make it more appealing for my audience. I have again tried to include the colours that my audience want with the use of the bright pink and the white which stands out well on the page as my audience research shows that my audience want bright, eye catching colours that stand out. It is important that the colours stand out on the page because the body text is small and it needs to catch the readers attention.

To attract my reader I made the article an interview because 90% of my audience wanted interviews as shown in my audience research.

Audience Feedback
Here are two members of my target audience viewing my work

Liked most about the magazine: The choice of images used in the magazine How to improve the magazine: The main critique is that the magazine is a bit unprofessional, an improvement is that my magazine should be more like real music magazines and should relate more to the genres of music through the use of font, layout, images and colours.

What have you learnt about the technologies from the process of constructing this project? Software Programmes The Internet I learnt how to use the features on adobe Photoshop to manipulate my images and make the front cover for my magazine I learnt how to use the features of Adobe I used moodle to get resources to Indesign to create my help with the creation of my contents and double page magazine spread I used dafont to use different and more professional fonts for Digital Camera the masthead and other words I Used a digital on my magazine camera to take the different images for my magazine and I used blogger to upload learnt about the my work onto my blog different types of shots and angles.

Using Adobe Photoshop Before

This shows that I can use adobe to manipulate my images, and one of my stages of development. As you can see: I changed the levels of colours, to emphasise my artist on the magazine by making her look more dominating on the page. I then added more levels part way through the making of my magazine because I decided she still was not emphasised enough and I wanted to make her fit in more with the genres of the magazine

After

Using Indesign Before

I used Indesign to change the layout of my magazine to make it look more professional and realistic. To add effects to text such as soft light to the words hip and hop, darken to R & B and add a Stoke to the word contents and Darken to the masthead in the corner I also used Indesign to effectively change the colours and make the magazine look more professional. Especially by adding a gradient to the background.

After

Stages of Development- Front Cover- Using Adobe I used Adobe Photoshop to ... Photoshop. 1- add levels to my image 2- cut out text from www.dafont.com and use it on my page for my masthead and the artists name 3- add sell lines and change the colour of them to make them stand out on the page 4- to cut out a bar code from the internet and insert it on my page, and then add a price and a date 5- to change the font style to relate it more to the genres of music and to add more levels to my image to emphasise my artist and make her stand out 6- to change the price of my magazine so that it was better value for the standard of the magazine & the amount of pages 7- to add a footer and include more artists so my magazine seemed jam packed and more appealing

Stages of development- Contents Page, In design. I used Indesign to... 1- add a gradient to the background of 2 thirds of the page 2- insert the word contents taken from www.dafont.com and add a stroke to it so that it stands out more on the page 3- insert a box onto the page to use as a column and change the colour of it to black 4- insert the letters R & B, and the words HIP and HOP which were again taken from www.dafont.com , and insert a musical note, and to add effects to the word (soft light to R/B and darken to HIP/HOP) 5- add my featured headings, artists & page numbers under these sections 6- add the images I wanted to use which I had manipulated in Photoshop

7- to add text underneath the images which is related to them to give my audience more information about what is in the magazine 8- to add more headings to the page to make the magazine appear jam packed and exciting 9- to add information to the bottom right hand corner of the page to tell my audience how they can subscribe to the magazine 10- to rearrange my page so I could fit another image which I add manipulated on Photoshop, to add more variation to my magazine 11- to insert the masthead and page number to the bottom right hand corner of the page.

Stages of development- Double page spread, Indesign I also Indesign to... 1- add a black background to one side of my double page spread 2- insert the word exclusive which I created on www.dafont.com 3- add the artists name to the page so my audience knew who the double page spread is about 4- add the interview which I had created in a word document and use columns to make it look more professional. Also to change the colour of the questions and answers to separate the information 5- to insert the masthead and page number to the corner of the double page spread

6,7&8 - to add an images of my artist to my other page which I had manipulated in Photoshop 9- to insert an image of my artist with her sisters which I manipulated in Photoshop to add more variation to the page 10- to insert another image of my artist with her brother, which I again manipulated in Photoshop, to add even more variation, and to then add text above these two images to explain to my audience who the other people are

Looking back at the preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt from the progression from it to the full product. Front Cover Final Product Preliminary Task I have learnt how to excite and attract the audience
through the use of fonts, images and colours and colour coordination. For example on my preliminary task, I used basic fonts and did not put much thought into my choice of image and the colours I used, where as on my Final product I chose colours that would attract my target audience, as shown by my magazine, I picked fonts which related to the genres of music and the style of my magazine- e.g. Bold eye catching fonts which stand out well on the page and emphasise the words, and I put much more thought into the picture, choosing a plain background to make it look more professional and making here stand in a pose which shows attitude and again relates to my chosen genres of music, I have also made sure my artist has direct eye contact so it looks like she is looking at the audience which makes it more personal and makes the audience feel more involved which influences them to buy the magazine. I have learnt how to make my magazine more realistic and professional , I have done this by making it look like there is a lot going on in my magazine. My Final product looks like there is more information inside as there are more sell lines and by using the words PLUS and AND MORE in my footer it makes the magazine appear jam packed and exciting, compared to my preliminary task which seems limited and a bit dull, also the sell lines are too long and would not catch the readers attention like the sell lines on my final product would. I have learnt how to manipulate images in Photoshop by getting rid of the background, changing the background and adding levels etc, for example on my final product I have added a lot of levels to my image to emphasise the artist and again make the image fit in more with my chosen genres of music, I have made the background lighter and my artist darker, this makes her look like she has more attitude and it emphasises her eyes making the eye contact stand out more and giving the magazine a more personal and welcoming appearance. I have learnt how to use Photoshop to cut out text from dafont to use on my masthead and magazine, for example the word rave and my artists name Dana Haughey is taken from www.dafont.com, I used this font to vary the appearance of my magazine and make it look more professional, compared to the preliminary task magazine which looks fairly basic. I also wanted a font which went more which the genres of music in the magazine

Looking back at the preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt from the progression from it to the full product. Contents Page Final Product I learnt how to manipulate images in Photoshop by getting rid of the Preliminary Task I learnt how to use Photoshop to
I learnt how to excite and attract the audience through the use of fonts, images and colours and colour coordination . Again as shown on my preliminary task the fonts and images I used were fairly basic and are not very eye catching. Where as on my final product I used more of a variety of images to appeal to my audience and look more professional, and I used different fonts, which were more bold and stand out better on the page to catch the audiences attention and relate better to the genres of music shown in my magazine. I also used similar colours making sure that the text , background and images co-ordination so that my magazine looks more realistic. background, changing the background colour and adding levels. In my preliminary task my images look very dull and basic because I have not used levels, where with the use of level in my final product my images look much more bold and emphasised so they stand out well on the page. They also stand out because I have changed the background to white, or got rid of the background, I did not know how to do this in my preliminary task. I did this because this again also helps my makes to look more professional cut out text from dafont, I have used this text on the letters R & B and the words HIP HOP. I did this to vary the text font and to make these words/letters stand out as they are titles and are more important because they tell the reader what it is in my magazine, this again makes my magazine look more realistic because it relates better to the genres of music within the magazine.

I have learnt more about how to add a gradient to the page because I have learnt how to use more colours and how to change the colours and the angle. On my Preliminary task I only knew how to use basic colours (grey and white) and how to use two colours and put them at I diagonal angle. Although this looks more professional than a plain background, it is still quite dull and boring. But on my final product I learnt how to add more colours to the gradient and how to change the colours so I could use pink, grey, black and white. I did this so that I could use a colour scheme that went better with the genres of music and also went with the colours in the images I used. This makes my magazine look more fun and professional. I also learnt how to change the angle so that it was in a straight line, I did this because I prefer it better to the diagonal as I think it looks more presentable and more like a real music magazine.

Looking back at the preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt from the progression from it to the full product. Double page spread Final Product
I have learnt how to use Indesign to effectively create my article on a imaginary singer and how to use columns to create a professional layout. In my Preliminary task I did not have to do a double page spread so I did not have to come up with an article, but for this task I had to make up my own article on a singer which I had created so I learnt how to come up with professional interview questions which are used in real magazines and how to make up an answer which sounded like something a real singer would say. I also learnt how to present this in a professional way by the used of columns and separating the questions from the answers by using different colours. I did this because I saw that many real magazines do this on interview so I thought it would be a professional way to lay out my page and would attract my target audience, making the information simple and easy to read. I learnt the use of camera angles and shot types. In my preliminary task all of my images were taken from the same angle. But in the final product I have taken an image of Dana from below and from above to show her at different angles and to vary my images to page the page look more exciting and interesting. This adds to the realism of the magazine and it makes my article more appealing so it therefore would attract my audience.