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.

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

My contents page follows conventions of a real music magazine contents page. The main image is of the main artist on the front cover and article of my magazine, focussing ‘Jordan Jones’ centrally in all the pages of my magazine. Also it is the same image I used in my article. I included three subsidiary images and situated on the left side of my contents page with their page numbers. This layout attracts the audience to the images, and page numbers of the artists focussed on in the subsidiary images. On the right side of my conetnts page i listed names of artists that would be featured in the rest of my magazine to inform the reader of all the artists included. I alternated colours of yellow and black outlines on the font to make it more conventional as i have seen this done in other music magazine contents pages.
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I did not manipulate the subsidiary images on my contents page as I feel the backgrounds are effective. Especially the first image of the artist ‘Dan Johnson’ with the graffiti in the background and the model is sitting down which is an unconventional pose. I used Paint Shop Pro to remove the background of the main image and left it white to fit in with the colour scheme of my magazine. The cover story sell line in a circle and the date of the issue are often used in real magazine contents pages.

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

The colour scheme I chose to use of  black, red, yellow and white is conventional. As black, white and red are popular colours in real magazines. I chose these colours because I had seen them used so often in other magazines. However I used yellow, a less popular colour, to make my magazine unique, appealing and familiar to readers. The colour yellow goes well with my masthead ‘UNPLUGGED’ and compliments the other colours also represents the acoustic genre my magazine covers and appeals to. My choice in the masthead and colour scheme was influenced by the feedback from my questionnaire which I did as preliminary research before producing my front cover. Here are some examples of a similar colour scheme from NME.

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

The main image covers part of the masthead, I did this because it creates an idea that the magazine is well established because reader already knows the masthead and will then focus straight on the main image, I found this to be very common in real music magazines because it gives more attention to the main article. My main image is of a young male holding a guitar. This image appeals to my target audience because he is an image the typical reader of my magazine. He is dressed casually, plays the guitar, is young and male and this similar to the audience I am targeting. I edited the photo by removing the background because it distracted from the image and I wanted the reader to focus on the main image and not on the background. The subsidiary images have not been manipulated as I the background on the two shot was plain and the second image was effective. Here is an example of KERRANG magazine with the main image covering the masthead.
                                       

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

My front cover conforms to the conventions of a real magazine, because the layout focuses on the main article with a main image of the artist and title of the artists name stands out across the middle of the page. I used subsidiary images which are conventional for music magazines. I chose to use two subsidiary images to fit the layout of my front cover as it was similar to other magazines I had looked at. I have included different sell lines which give information about the contents to make the magazine more appealing also because this is used a lot on real magazine front covers. My front cover generally conforms to the conventions of real music magazines.

                   The layout of my front cover was altered during the process of making it I originally had the subsidiary images to the bottom left of the cover however in order to add more sell lines in the ‘Plus’ section I moved the pictures and placed the ‘Plus’ sell lines in the bottom left corner as I felt it was more effective and conventional to that of real music magazine front covers.

Final Magazine

front cover

                                                                  contents page

               
                                              Double page spread

subsiduary images i used on my contents page

 i chose to use this one as its a long shot and i dont have many in my magazine also i like the  background of the tree the model also represents the target audience of my magazine.

i used this image because i wanted to have more females represnted in my magazine, also i wanted a more close up picture on my contents page.

i used this picture because of the grafitti in the background setting, it was also a different shot to any others i had taken as the model is sitting down i thought it would be interesting to vary the shots in the photos.

My contets page

 my finished contets page

contents page draft

the sketch of the first draft of my contents page

i like this contens page from kerrang, also for the use of the pictures. the sub-headings on the right are bold and clear with page numbers for each heanding. i like the idea of using a pull quote it works well on a contents page because it links to an aritcle further in the magazine. there is not too much writing which is good, but its still informative.

contents page

I like this contents page from Q. i think the use of pictures are good including the page numbers ontop of them. i would prefer to use a similar amaount of pictures because it look more appealing. i like the banner at the top with the masthead and issue number. the colour scheme of black white and red is simple and works well its similar to the colour scheme i am using.

double page spread

 

Music Magazine Cover

article examples

i liked these magzine articles. i like the subsiduary images on the first one and i like the pull quote and use of colour on the second one.