Looking back at my preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

For my preliminary task, I had to create a front cover of a school magazine that was mainly aimed at secondary school students. My final piece is a music magazine that is aimed at teenagers or older which is in a mass audience. I was then able to develop my skills and knowledge of editing and creativity when making a magazine and including the conventions.

I was also responsible for all the roles played by industry professionals:

• Photographer
• Editor of both images and text
• Publisher
• Interviewer
• Interviewee
• Director
•  Writer

What kind of media institiution might distribute your media product and why?

My target audience is seen as a mass audience, this is because the indie-pop genre is growing in size and is becoming much more popular in this music industry. Although the indie genre audience is more niche, the compilation of indie with pop makes the overall target audience larger, therefore targeting my music magazine to a mass audience.

Media institution is an organisation that can produce or distribute media products. This can be done through many different methods, like through marketing or production etc. There are mass institutions and independent institutions. An example of a media institution is "Bauer media" they are responsible for publishing magazines such as "Q" and "Kerrang!". These both appeal to mass audiences and are based on more mainstream music. 

Therefore, I would choose a publisher that publishes my type of magazine, this is so then it reaches a mass audience. "Bauer media" is a popular publisher that publishes a range of different genre of music magazines with all different genres. Therefore, I believe that if "Bauer media" was to publish my magazine then they would be expanding their audience with this unique and growing genre. My target audience is a mass audience and therefore would be very useful and beneficial to the institution. 

It can be effective based off my target audience to then have an independent institution that would publish my magazine. This is so then my magazine is then straying away from the mainstream industry of music magazines, an independent company would not reach my mass audience as "Bauer media" would. "Bauer media" are very responsible for highly successful prints of magazines and I would hope that if they would publish my magazine, it would be due to my target audience being a mass audience and because of the quality of my magazine, this is as well as being one of the first institutions to then publish a magazine with the rare indie-pop genre.

During the industry of music magazines, there are many mainstream music magazines, mainly focusing on the general pop industry. I believe that there is a massive gap in this music magazine industry for an indie-pop music magazine. Its very new, fresh and innovative and it is exactly what the industry is missing as it is something that is desperately needed in the music magazine industry.

In this modern day music magazines has become very plain, this is due to no one in this industry is experimenting with their magazines as much as they used to. Therefore, many people are sticking to the normal mainstream music because its seen as "trendy" and a large proportion of people have no means of access in discovering new and updated music. This is where my magazine is very unique and different compared to other mainstream magazines, this is due to the fact that it provides a means of access to new themed music which is very different to the mainstream music magazines.

Many of the magazines that are published by "Bauer media" like to focus on the music artists themselves, fashion or artists lifestyles. Therefore, I believe  that my music magazine would be filling a massive gap in the music magazine industry."Bauer media" describe themselves as "Britain's biggest magazine publisher" with many iconic brands within their portfolio.

My target audience would only read a magazine that they would trust if it was produced by a publisher that is reliable just like "Bauer media" this is due to them having published many well known brands of different magazines that have sold really well. I feel that if I had got my magazine published with an independent institution, my target audience may not trusted the unwell known production company. This would then mean that the lack of consumption would make figures very low and my magazine may become very unsuccessful due to a large amount of magazines not being sold. "Bauer media" have described themselves as "Britain's biggest magazine publisher" with many iconic brands within their portfolio.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My target audience would be known as 'indie' or 'hipsters'. These type of individuals see themselves as trendsetters and opinion moulders, this is due to the fact that they consist of middle-class young people teenagers or older of whom use social media to show how they are up to date with trends and fashions. Although, I believe my target audience are a unique sub-group of hipsters, I feel that hipsters a group that would stay on trend with the crowd and are focused on mainstream music, My target audience like to stray away from this mainstream type of music and find new and unique styles of music  that many other individuals wouldn't either listen to or wouldn't even find. Therefore, I feel as if my magazine would influence my target audiences taste in music even though they can still be very selective towards some or the music/artists, and so that is why I have included a range of different artists and try to feature to appeal to a wide majority within this social group as I need to supply for both males and females. My talent within my final front cover of my music magazine is representative of this social group; she is wearing very casual clothes although it still looks very stylish and well thought out, she has a chilled/relaxed posture, which shows that my magazine is very open and relaxed about my overall theme of magazine, this is to portray the connotations that go along with the approach of my target audience  as they are very opinionated and relaxed about not following the crowd.

The use of mise-en-scene within my image will also reflect the social group of my music magazine. Even though my front cover model isnt holding any sort of musical prop, I felt as if this shows that you dont have to be musically orientated by a specific instrument used to show your style of music. The setting is very simplistic, with lack of detail on the walls, this is to connote that even though my target audience are very individualised, this lack of detail allows my target audience to feel open minded to music within my magazine.

The social groups excluded from my target audience would be those of whom are the "mainstreamers", whichs are the individuals of whom just follow the crowd and also follow trends or whatever is popular at the current time. This is rather than being an individual and trying to find their own taste and interests within their lifestyle. I wanted these individuals to be excluded because my music magazine does not follow a lot of mainstream music, to allow my target audience to be individuals and follow their own artists that suit their own taste of music. This was by being a source of discoving new and upcoming music as well as supporting new artists within the music industry.

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

When completing me media magazine blog, I have found to have used a wide range of different technologies, equipment as well as different online software. These have all really helped with developing a unique and professional magazine. Due to me not having any previous experience in media software, by using all these different programs, I feel as if it have given me the opportunity to develop my media skills for my AS blog.

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Who would be the audience for your media product?

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In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? & How did you attract/address your audience?

Double Page Spread

Step By Steps Of Creating my DPS

Case Study About Music Magazine's Dying

The Word Magazine 

What was it?

The Word used to be a monthly music magazine that was published in London. In 2007 and 2008, it was voted UK 'Music Magazine Of The Year', however, it only made 114 issues, the last bearing the cover date August 2012. 

What problems were they experiencing?

They were one of few companies who made independent music magazines. However, in a microcosm of the problems afflicting many consumer magazines, there were apparently not enough of them to save the independent title from the director David Hepworth who described it as "dramatic changes in the media and the music business". Hepworth also announced on the official Word website on the following Friday morning, the August issue, was to be published in the second week of July and it would be the magazine's last, with all full-time staff being made redundant.

Can all music magazines survive?

Many music publications have died off or been bought out and the survivors. This was along with the rest of the publishing industry. The one industry that is being talked about dying out are music magazines.

1. There are fewer superstars, and the same musicians show up on every magazine cover. 

There are only a few musical acts that still command massive appeal.

2. Music magazines have less to offer music lovers, and music lovers need them less than ever anyway.

Nower days, you can get music for free online or through apps on your mobile phone or any other device. Many interviews are released on the internet through social media such as YouTube, facebook, twitter ect. All these media apps are all free to use.

3. Music magazines were an early version of social networking. But now there's this thing called "social networking".

It seems that the world today has been replaced by the internet and digital versions. Websites including Spotify and iTunes are just a few examples where music is available to download. 

Why pay for something you can get for free? 

The internet today makes accessing music and digital copies of magazines much more quicker and also more accessible all over the world, this is much easier than having to go out and buy a copy in order to learn about new music. 

Are they only for ABC1 males aged 35+?

Top music magazines genuinely have the most to offer. These normally include an insight into popular music artists, music, exclusive interviews and introducing new music. These types of magazines often have a hefty price, this is something that you probably wouldn't pay unless you're a regular costumer with some money to spare each month. 

Also, music magazines with this price also tend to contain a larger amount of older artists and music, which would then appeal to an older generation of music listeners. Therefore to be able to buy and enjoy the content of the magazine, you usually have to be in the ABC1 bracket (in order to afford it), and over 35 to be able to enjoy the music.

Typical Magazine Layouts

Layouts of Magazines

After creating my contents page and front cover, I wanted to make sure that my overall layout worked well and showed continuity throughout my magazine.  I also wanted to ensure that my front page and my contents page worked well with each other before I continued to make my double page spread. Before creating my double page spread, I wanted to analyse some of these layouts above so then I would know which layout would suit my overall look of my magazine as well as the two pages of  my magazine already.

The first layout is very plain and set out quite simple, even though my overall look for my magazine is simplistic, I don't think this layout would suit my overall look that I am trying to achieve because there is too much white area being shown, which shows lack of detail to a double page spread.

The second layout seen above is set out very well, the use of pictures included in the written piece of the write up on the right hand side is used really effectively because it breaks up the writing so then there isn't just a large amount of writing on a page.

The seventh layout from above is set out very similar to the first layout, but it used the space of the double page spread more effectively by spreading out the pictures and writing around the page so then it doesn't look as crammed together. The use of different sized font really breaks up the typical layout of a magazine.

Overall, after looking at these layouts, I feel like I would try and make my double page spread a lot like either the second or the seventh layout seen above. This is due to the use of space throughout the two pages, by including pictures and quotes to break up the block of writing included in the double page. I want to include a variety of different sizes of photos as well as different fonts and size of text. Photos that I am going to include will vary in colour theme as well as saturation to achieve a unique layout for my double page spread

 At First my overall layout of my first page of my double page spread was the picture above to your left. I liked the format and the way that it was all set out, this was because it wasn't too spread out, but also wasn't too cramped. 

I really liked the use of an overlapped photo at the top, with the bottom photo lacking in saturation. I did this so then the layout of photos didn't look plain and bold like normal photos do in magazines.

After comparing my first layout to other magazines, I felt as if it was missing something very vital, and that was the change in font. I felt that the 'WHO I AM.. REBECCA AKA - BECKIE T' needed a bit more creativity. I changed the size as well as the font type, this was so then not only would it stand out more, but the vary in fonts would look more pleasing to the eye of a reader.

After looking at the different layouts, changing the font size, type and boldness. I decided to include the same music notes that were used in my front page as well as my contents page, this was to show continuity so then my magazine looked like a music magazine. I also continued to use the same colour scheme of blue, grey, black and white. 

This is to show again that there is no real aim of gender for my magazine. By using the pictures at the top of the page, it suits to the overall colour scheme because the colour of the guitar is turquoise blue, just like the blue that is used within the music notes.

Colour Consumers & 50 Quid Man

Colour Consumers

YELLOW

1. Shows optimistic & youth
2. Yellow is normall associated with joy; stimulates readers mental activity and generates musical energy creating reader to feel more positive and energised.
3. Often included to create/grab attention/show hazards.

The use of the colour YELLOW would be very effective to encorporate within my magazine, this is because the colour is striking and my target audience is for teens which are attracted to bright colours just like YELLOW. This colour would really compliment a dark background, like the colour black. It can give a magazine a sence of nature, just like the colours green and blue. Unfortunatly, I didnt intend on including nature within my magazine, even though i will be taking some photos inside and outside. 

I feel like if I included this colour theme into my indie pop magazine, I wouldnt include the target audience I was aiming towards. Also, the colour YELLOW isnt used in many indie pop magazines, so I wouldnt want to include it into my own because of the risk of my magazine not looking like the genre that I selected.

RED

1. Shows urgency
2. Used in clearance sales to grab attention to deals
3. Represents anger
4. Used to show lust/love/romance

An ideal way of using the colour RED in my music magazine, would to advertise products/offers or to publicize an exclusive interview or event. The colour RED isnt normally associated with the genre Indie-pop, it is mostly used within the genre of R&B or rock. Therefore, I would not include any sort of shade of RED on my magazine because it would not suit my overall colour theme of blue, greys and black.

GREEN

1. Symbolises fertility 
2. Associated with growth- connected to connotation of living nature
3. Used to show wealth
4. Easiest colour for the human eye to process

I wouldn't use the colour GREEN in my indie-pop magazine because it wouldn't compliment my overall colour scheme that I intend to use. Also, I don't propose using green into my magazine because I dont involve any sort of nature aspects into my pieces.

BLUE

1. Stability
2. Confidence, wisdom & intelligence
3. Viewed as a calming colour (colour of sky & sea- nature is seen to influence people in a calming way)
4. Sensation of trust & security

Turquois BLUE is one of the main colours that I am going to use in my indie-pop magazine, this is because the turquois shade is suitable for both males and females meaning that my overall target audience covers a larger variety of teens. The colour BLUE is a calming colour to potential buyers of my magazine, I want my overall look of my magazine to be plain, approachable and very relaxed theme.

PURPLE

1. Seen in beauty or anti-aging products
2. Associated with luxury, ambition & independence
3. Used to soothe and calm

The colour purple wouldnt really work with my colour scheme, this is because it would clash with the colour blue, even though it might compliment the other primary colours (black and white).

PINK

1. Romantic & feminine use
2. Used for market products for women & young girls
3. Stereotypical feminine connotations (sweet, nice, cute ect) 

PINK is seen to be the typical female colour that connotes feminism, my overall scheme of my indie-pop magazine is to target not individual gender so then I can create a larger amount of sales to be made.

ORANGE

1. Associated with joy, enthusiasm, creativity & success
2. Creates a call of action: subscribe, buy or sell
3. Used to show aggression 

I wouldnt use the colour ORANGE because it is the colour that is used to show agression. I want my overall theme of my magazine to be very relaxed and appoachable. ORANGE wouldnt go with my colour scheme of blue because it would clash. 

BLACK

1. Used to market luxury products
2. Powerful and sleek colour
3. Bold & stand out

BLACK is one of the main colours that I am using my colour scheme, I wanted to use it throughout my magazine because its a very bold and it stands out. It allows my overall look to be sleek, clinical and very raw looking. I felt that the turquoise blue complimented the BLACK background and theme very well.

My Magazine Colour Scheme

The colour scheme that I am going to use within my magazine is turquoise blue, grey, black and white. I used these 4 colour's because I thought they would all compliment each other as well as really aim to encourage my target audience to buy my magazine because the main colour, which is turquoise blue isn't gender specific so I can target a larger audience. Turquoise blue is also a really striking shade of blue which is very eye catching - this could allow my magazine to stand out from others because of the bright colours.


  

50 Quid Bloke



It is a term that is used to describe a normal retail customer type 'by Nick Hepworth' who is the editor of the 'Word Magazine.' The 50 quid bloke is the kind of customer that would spend his Friday afternoons buying albums in his local CD stores.

 More adults are now buying CDs a lot more often than teenagers are, this is because the online apps such as Spotify, ITunes are other ways of buying music. These online apps are killing the younger generation's thrill of owning a typical CD. 
So with the internet to check up on the latest gossip with artists, younger people don't need to buy music magazines. According to the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), these are the figures for the age groups that buy CDs.

• 12-to-19 age group accounted for 16.4% of album sales in 2002, a sharp fall in 2000 down to 22.1%.
• 40- to-49-year-olds went the other way, rising from 16.5% to 19.1%.
• Buyers in their 50s (14.3%) are not far behind.

People over the ages of 40 will soon be buying more than 50% of CDs. This is the main reason why my target audience is for the younger generation of people. This is so then I can try and reduce the amount of CD sales by engaging the younger generation with my magazine .


"The 50-quid bloke probably has an
 iPod but uses it as a radio rather than
 a substitute for his CDs."


The 'fifty quid bloke' is actually known to be a big user of the internet but, will still spend their money on certain things just like CD's. This is because he likes the feeling of owning music through CD's. 
It is known that the younger generation is being brainwashed into using the internet as a way of listening to general music. They should be saving music by buying CDs as they are the next generation. The older generation and 50 quid blokes are soon to be extinct leaving a generation of Spotify & ITunes users. 

Updated Contents & Front Cover

Front Cover

My front cover originally looked very much like a fashion magazine, this was due to the lack of information and photos that related to music in general. Not many changes were made regarding the layout because I like the way that my layout is very simplistic with lack of detail.

After looking at other magazines again and comparing them to my own, I felt as if my magazine was missing something and that was colour. I thought originally the lack of colour might make my magazine stand out to others but, it did the exact opposite. The lack of colour and the simple layout didn't make my magazine look striking, this was the reason why I included a few musical notes with the colour blue in it to add more colour to my overall look of my magazine to then it would not only relate and look more like a magazine but, also look much more colourful.

I included the colour blue because it is considered beneficial to the mind and body. It slows human metabolism and produces a calming effect.

Contents Page

After comparing my contents page to other magazines that are in the same genre as mine. I included more music notes to show a continuity of a musical themed magazine, I also continued to use the colour blue throughout my pieces to show that there is no selected gender that this magazine is aimed for. I also used turquoise blue because it worked well with the colour of the guitar that I used in my photo shoot, which is the one used in the collage on the left hand side of my contents page.

I included separate object numbers found on the program called Canva for the page numbers. This was so then it wouldn't look completely simplistic. Overall I wanted to make my contents page layout different to any of the other indie-pop magazines so then my magazine would look unique and different to others. I made my layout very dissimilar to other layouts seen previously in my prep and research. By including the word 'contents' in my contents page, I thought I would place it at the bottom of the page, instead of at the top like a typical magazine layout.

Throughout my contents page, I have included the colour scheme of turquoise blue, grey, black and white. This was also included in the collage that my photos were included in, this was to show continuity throughout my work.

Camera Angle Questionnaire Results

Camera Angle Questionnaire

Before I completed  my second photo shoot, I took a questionnaire that included different camera angles that I would most likely use in when taking a photo. I felt that a quationnaire was needed to ensure that readers had an input into what angles would look best on magazines just like my one.

Not only did this give me an idea about what I could include in my magazine, but it also made me focus on the use of angle during my photo shoot, to ensure that I was completing the demands of what the readers would most likely want in the magazine.

I decided to make a questionnaire, this was so then I could be able to include what was wanted into my work. I asked 20 people what camera angles my target audience would rather see on a front page spread. I thought this would be a really good idea to understand and relate to what my target audience would want, and to make sure that I include this so then they would want to buy my magazine.

I found that the results were pretty straight forward. My target audience would like to see a 'worms eye', 'eye level' or 'cantard' camera angle for the front page spread. This then convinced me to make a second photo shoot with the same model to encorporate these angles into my work to make my front page relate to my target audience as much as I can.

Change in Focus & Saturation

Changing focus & saturation of particular photos

I decided to lower the saturation to this photograph. This is because a lot of my other photos are very colourful, so I thought that a change in saturation would be very different compared to my other work. I used the angle called worms eye, this is due to the fact that all of my photos are very straight forward as they are taken eithe rfron on or to the side of the person. I like the way that my model is looking away while playing her guitar. Its more of a natural/ non-forced shot, which is exactly what i am aiming my magazine and photos to look like. This whole natural look for  my photos is exactly what my target audience want. The reason why I know this is because I completed a camera terminology questionaire to my target audience. The reason for creating this was so then I could make sure that I was including the right aspects of the magazine to suit my target audience.

I used the website called Pixlr to edit this photo. I used the feature called 'Splash' to make just the colour of the guitar look more vibrant compared to the dull, colourless background. Also I used the 'Focus' feature which just focuses on the part of the photo that you want by highlighting it like below. As well as making the guitar more striking, I also changed the amount of saturation for the background. This photo was taken on the move (action shot) this is because all of my other photos were all still shots and I wanted to add a variety of photos to aim to attract my target audience to want to buy my magazine.

 By using the feature 'Focus' allowed me to blur out the rest of the photo except for the guitar which is the main object of the photograph. I felt that this effect to this photo allows my target audience to clearly identify that my magazine is targeted at viewers who are interested in music.

I used this photo because it was a very clear shot of a guitar. I used the feature called 'Splash' on the website called Canva, this allowed me to increase the amount of the tolerance to the colour of the guitar. This made the overall photograph of the guitar look very striking, due to the black and white background allowing the guitar image to stand out a lot more.

 After I completed this editing for this photo, I really wanted to include the edit in one of my final pieces (Front page, Contents or Double Page Spread). I feel like this splash of colour would work really well with my theme of colours of my overall magazine because my colour themes include blue, grey, black and white which are all the colours that are included in this photo above.