Farewell

Farewell...

Q7: What have I learnt since the preliminary task?

Since the preliminary task...

What have I learnt since the preliminary task? A lot.

I had not taken media before as a subject, and while a lot of it was still familiar from what I do in my spare time, it was still a new experience to have to keep a blog and manage it.  

My skills have grown a lot since we did the preliminary task, and when I look back at my first magazine cover and then look at the end result of my music magazine, I think anyone can clearly see significant improvement and change of style. My first cover was okay, but it didn't have the same vibes as real magazine covers and looked like I had spent too much time adding stuff to it on Pixlr. The final cover I chose for my music magazine has a much more professional feel to it.

I have always loved photography and do a lot of it in my spare time as a hobby but I had never had to do anything like this before. This was the first time I could use my photography for more than just a past-time activity (where any pictures I take end up buried in a dusty old file in my computer never to be seen again.) I had rarely taken pictures of people before, which was a new experience and one I greatly enjoyed. I tried to develop my understanding of angles and lighting for this project, focusing a lot on how the positioning of the subject of a photo can change how it appears and the effect it has. 

I think that all of my skills have developed significantly since I first started the topic in September, and I hope to develop them further next year. 

Q6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

What I have learnt

Before I began this project I had already used Pixlr many times, but I had not however used a mac, which was indeed a very enjoyable experience. 

I prefer Windows. 

I also extended my abilities on Photoshop, which I had previously only used for drawing with my tablet. On the left is the cover I did using Photoshop to edit the background, and while it didn't end up being my final choice I still learn't more about using image editors and testing out new ideas.

I had only made a blog once before in my life, and it wasn't using Blogger. So this has been a new experience, and I have learnt lots about managing and creating blog posts. This is a skill that I feel will be of great use in the future.

Prezi was also new to me, and used it to make a couple of presentations for my coursework. I enjoy the way the presentations work and making them was relatively fun. Even after I have finished my coursework I imagine I may use this in the future. 

Q5: : What kind of media institute might distribute your media product?

Distributing my media product

I decided that the best way to distribute my magazine was to produce it independently without using big Media companies like Bauer. Publishers like Bauer conglomerate with other companies to produce all forms of media. Bauer publishes Kerrang!, Q and Mojo. These are big companies however there are also small independent publishing alternatives. Shindig! is a magazine with a niche audience and therefore it runs by itself without the help of a large company. This would be ideal for my magazine as it is aimed at a more select target audience and would be better without the influence of a big company that might alter its image.

While producing my magazine with a big industry might make more money and a wider readership, it would go against the nature of the genre and its style. My magazine is for a niche audience about small niche bands, and I feel that a major company like Bauer would take that away. People who buy my magazine would feel more like a small group of special individuals if the magazine was not massive and well-known. 

Q4: How Does my Media Product Represent Different Social Groups?

Q3: How did I attract my target audience?

How I attracted my target audience

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Q2: Who is my target audience?

My Target Audience

 When researching my target audience, I found that they commonly wore clothing such as skinny jeans and converse shoes. They would not look particularly well-groomed and perhaps have the overall appearance of someone deemed 'scruffy'. 

I decided to try to aim towards pleasing people who fall into the categories 'Strugglers' and 'Explorers' in the psychographic profiling for target audiences. The Strugglers would seek escape from my magazine. People who perhaps feel alienated and distant, and in need of something they can connect with to help them through the struggles of their daily lives such as alcohol issues or troubles with money. The Explorers would make use of the lesser-known, indie bands that would be featured in my magazine. They seek individualism, suggesting they'd be less into mainstream pop bands and more into obscure, rising bands with a small audience. 

Gender wise, my magazine is aimed at both male and female readers. The population of my target audience of indie-kids and edgy teens is made of both genders, with slightly more male members than female. Their interests involve reading, movies, partying with friends, art, bands and band posters, going to gigs, blogging, taking photos and perhaps in interest in tattoos, alcohol and piercings. Many may play their own instrument, and they will also feel a strong connection to music and it most likely plays an important role in their life. Their personality would be expected to be fun, adventurous, creative and artistic with interesting views on the world around them. 

My audience will most likely be students and young people from the ages 14 to 24. As far as demographics are concerned, I don't think that social status affects the target audience for my magazine, however the numbers may drop as the social status gets lower. ABC1 would certainly have people within my target audience, but C2DE can also be found within the group. 

Q1:How does my product use, develop or challenge forms conventions of real magazines?

The Evaluation of my Magazine

Now that I have finished my magazine I can evaluate it. 

How does my product use, develop or challenge forms conventions of real magazines?

My magazine mostly follows conventions to make it realistic, attract its audience and be successful. I believe that unconventional magazines, while more artistic, are less likely to be successful and thrive.

convention

kənˈvɛnʃ(ə)n/

noun

noun: convention; plural noun: conventions

1.

a way in which something is usually done

I looked at my chosen genre and target audience, an Indie rock magazine aimed at students with strong connections to their music, and developed my ideas from there. I came up with the design, the colour scheme and the masthead based off of the style of my genre and I also used a questionnaire to help determine what people would most like to see in my magazine and to make it conventional. 

I took inspiration for my house style from another conventional magazine, NME, and used it to help me work out the most efficient way to lay out my magazine.

 A house style is a consistent design style that is kept throughout the magazine to show that it's all part of the same magazine. For example, keeping the font, colours, image types and layout similar on every page

Cover

My cover features conventions such as having the Masthead in the top left corner, having the band name across the centre and keeping coverlines and additional information (dates, issue no., etc) to the side so that they do not distract from the image, which is also conventional as it uses a common mid shot with the talent in the centre of the page rather than to the side. The colours are also dark, conventional of an indie magazine, and the image itself is dark and grungy to represent the target audience.










Contents Page

The same house style is kept throughout my contents page, sticking to conventions with the heading 'contents' at the top and the list of the magazines contents down the side with images of people featured in the magazine. The page is in black and white which is conventional and makes it easy to read.


I used a contents page from NME magazine to help decide the layout of my own contents page, using the black and white colour scheme but with my own style imbued with it to create a more original looking page.








Double Page Spread

My double page spread features images and  text, following the housestyle by keeping the same font used at the bottom and the top. The colour scheme has changed to fit the mood of the band featured but the overall style of the images and the editing remains the same. This is only a part of what would be a four page section on the made-up band. I chose to use the main singer, the same talent featured on the cover, for the bigger photo and then the two other band members in little framed photos beside it.