2. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? Front Cover Similarities: Both magazine covers have large magazine names that nearly cover up a quarter of the page and both are placed in a top corner. Both main images of the front cover are layered over the magazine's name. The two magazines use four different colours in their colour scheme, MDB uses red, white, yellow and black where as Q uses red, white, black and silver. Each magazine uses many fonts on the front cover to give them both more visual appeal. Differences:Q magazine has less image and more text whereas MDB has the opposite, more image than text. MBD has competition information on the front cover, Q magazine doesn’t have a competition. Q magazine has one image on top where as MDB only has the main image placed on to a black background which I could have improved on. MDB's front cover overall is quite plain compared to Q's; there is more to read and look at. Contents Page MDB: This magazine has used only one page for its contents page as it doesn’t contain as many pages in the magazine as Q. It has kept the colour scheme of red, white, yellow and black, it has also kept the logo on the page, the issue number of the magazine, a reminder of the magazine's main subject is the title and many images of the band are on this page to help add interest. Q: This magazine uses two pages for the contents which are both well covered in images and text. It has a few images of either a page or double page. Every page mentioned in the contents page either has a small piece of text or an image of the page. None of the pages are in any particular order by number, but the pages are arranged into sections for example, regulars and the main review. An image of the front cover has also been placed onto the second of the contents pages with the issue number next to it. Each page has the Q logo then the page number and then the release month of the issue. Double Page MDB: I feel there isn’t enough text on the page, it is all very vague. There seems to be too much room on the page still. The images don’t look completely professional as there are still parts of the image that aren’t meant to still be in the image. The colours that are in the scheme were also used well on this double page and there are no problems with not being able to read any text. Q: Each image on the page apart from three are original photos which seem to have not been edited in any way. The page is very clear to read as there is a white background with red and black text other than on the images where there is white. On this page they ensure they keep the red from the colour scheme within the page by using it for lines under a extract from the text.
3. How does your media product represent particular social groups? I think that my media product represents some social groups by the main subject of the magazine being about a rock band which almost immediately sets the target audience to people who enjoy listening to rock music. I also think it can include people who generally like any music as the magazine will have specials about the biggest band in that month.
4. What kind of media product institution might distribute your media product and why? Any shops that sell any kind of magazine will sell this magazine because it sells any magazine. The publisher may want to sell the magazine online as well as MDB wanting to sell it online. Supermarkets will sell the magazine as it may have been proved to be a well selling magazine.
5. Who would be the audience for your media product? I think there could be many audiences for this media product, one of these could be people who have bought and enjoyed the magazine in the past. Another group of people that may buy this product could be people who know and love the band that the magazine is about in this issue. A third group could be people who enjoy rock music as this issue of the magazine.
6. How did you attract/address your audience? I attracted my audience to my magazine by using bright and bold colours in my colour scheme that draw attention to the magazine. The thin yellow stripe going through the red border stands out because it is a very noticeable colour on red and this will immediately make people look at the magazine. I used big fonts on the front cover to ensure maximum appeal to the magazine, using big fonts makes the cover very noticeable if it is placed next to any other magazine that has a smaller font size.
7. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? I have learnt how to edit pictures by deleting the background in two different ways but using the same programme, Serif Photo Plus 11. I have learnt how to delete the red eye from images which contain it by also using the Serif programme. I have learnt how to change the colour of text images. I changed the background and foreground of the image so that it is at my satisfaction so that I can place it onto the magazine how I want.
8. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? I have learnt more about the way a magazine is laid out on each page. There is a lot that needs to be placed onto the front cover to ensure maximum appeal. I have learnt more about the major process of making a magazine and every little thing that is needed to be done in order to create a magazine. For example, choosing a colour scheme, choosing font for the magazine and taking a lot more photos than you probably need.
