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

I feel i impoved greatly from my preliminary task to my final magzine design. I have become much more familiar with the equipment and software i have used and have learned how to use it more effectively and manage my time better. i used better images, differents fonts, affects, layers, colours, etc on my final magazine.

Here is my preliminary task and my final front cover to show the contrast between them.  
 

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

To create my media product i used Adobe Indesign i have learned to use this software effectively to create a music magazine front cover, double page spread and contents page. I used Coral Paint Shop Pro to remove the backgrounds of some pictures when i felt the background was not effective or necassary. I captured all the images used on my digital camera a Fuji S700 and uploaded them onto the computer. while taking my photos i considered lighting, angles and poses for the models. I also did research on music magazines codes and conventions to make my magazine look more appealing.

How did you attract/address your audience?

I attract my target audience through the images/models used. I used mainly male models as my target audience is mainly male and they can relate to the people in my magazine. Two of my pictures include guitars which appeals to a large group of my target audience. I included images of females aswell to appeal to female readers, expanding my audience. The colour scheme of yellow, white, red and black is masculine to attract my target audience to read the articles and recognise the masthead easily making my magazine look more appealing.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The target audience for my magazine is:

• 70% male and 30% female

•  50-60% play guitar

• regular readers attend gigs and festivals
• the average age is around 19
•  agree that music is very influential and important in thier lives
• regularly purchase music, mainly downloaded, like to have live tracks
• 40-50% are in education
• fans of less mainstream bands

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

An example of a company that could distribute my magazine is Frontline. Frontline is owned by Bauer and is one of the leading distributors in the world and the most successful in the UK. It distributes 160+ magazines  including 70 of the 200 top selling titles in the UK from different companies to 55,000 shops around the UK and parteners with BBC, Bauer and Haymarket.

The key process of distribution is as follows:

publisher- distribution- wholesaler- retailer- customer

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My images are all of teenagers and the main artist in my front cover, contens page and article is 17 years old. this shows my magazine targets a younger audience. this attracts my target audience because they will be of a similar age and can relate to the people in my magazine. i have included both male and female models my magazine appeals to both genders. with the average age of the audience being 18.
Unplugged is very genre specific specialising in acoustic music, this targets a niche audience of musicians and fans of this genre.
These are some examples of social gruops that my magazine represents and targets.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

The title of my article is ‘JJ’s six Strings’ I think this is effective because its short and uses alliteration. The title, pull quote, and questions all fit in with my colour scheme of yellow, white, red and black that I used throughout my magazine.

I originally used the same main image that is on my front cover but I decided to use this image because it’s a long shot and includes the models whole body and fits better on the page. The content of my article appeals to my target audience because it is written in a code of language they are used to. The question and answer format is simple and easy to follow, it also includes questions that they are likely to want to ask the artist. The introduction is informative and provides description of the artist and his background.
I used the pull quote ‘I was in shock I couldn’t believe Eric Clapton wanted to work with me!’ as it appeals to my target audience, who are likely to be fans of Eric Clapton and relate to Jordan’s surprise and joy at being asked to work with him. I chose to use a subsidiary image to feature with a quotation from a Radio 1 DJ about Jordan’s album. With a subsidiary title ‘Radio 1 DJ Ella Jones’, I have seen this used on real articles in music magazines.

Here are some examples of real magazine double page spreads that share similar conventions to mine.

These double page spreads both have the main image on the left with a subsiduary image and text on the right. The first example has a Radio 1 DJ's quote and image, i used a similar feature to this in my article. Also the first example uses text near the bottom left of the page this is not conventional however i have chosen to use a similar layout as this example.