2. In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real media
products?
3. Background/Colours
The background of my magazine cover is white, this is
very conventional of rock music magazines, many
of these magazines choose one block background
colour and then use 2 or 3 other accent colours. I
complied with the convention because it is used so
there aren’t too many colours that pull focus from
the cover star(s). Another way in which I have
followed conventions is by using a bold masthead.
It is a simple font (name of font) and is the colour
black . Various existing music magazines such as
Kerrang’s masthead (see below) is also black on a
white background.
Kerrang! logo
4. Models
However, challenged conventions of this genre
putting a band with 2 females and only one male
on the front cover. Rock music, and therefore rock
music magazines, is a male-dominated industry
and rarely feature bands with more females then
males. I decided to challenge the conventions in
this aspect to make my magazine unique and
different from the others on the market.
But, the models are slightly younger than many in
real bands. I decided to challenge this convention
because it appeals more to my target audience as
they can relate to those who are the same age as
them.
My magazine cover
Existing magazine‟s covers
5. Costume and props
The costumes that I have used throughout
my magazine are conventional. This is
because the band used in my magazine are
wearing jeans, trainers, eyeliner and t-shirts.
These items could be found in professional
music magazines as well as on people who
enjoy this type of music.
6. Written content
I followed the codes and conventions of music magazine
“We make casual
chit-chat after I enter
articles. Although some magazines do publish simple the room, the band
question/answer articles, many others publish articles and I bonded over
with quotes embedded in them. I decided to do this music (Vampire
because from the magazines I analysed, as of late, this Weekend to be
style of article has become more popular. precise), and I began
to ask them about the
The style of language used is a mix of formal and
year they‟ve had.
conversational. I chose this because it is a style that the Bassist Natalya Urie
target audience would find easy to read without getting is quick to answer,
bored. „It‟s been amazing.
We didn‟t expect any
Also, the mode of address used in the editors letter is very of it, it‟s crazy. I
conversational, like every music magazine I analysed. So mean, we wrote these
in that respect I followed the codes and conventions of the songs in my garage
two summers ago
magazine genre.
and now we‟re
playing on the Main
Stage at Reading
[and Leeds
Festival].‟”
Extract from features article
7. Choice of genre
I showed my choice of genre through several aspects. The main one id the name of
the magazine, Amplified. This relates to live music, and using amplifiers to make
the music louder. Live music is a big part of rock music and its culture, so it was a
fitting name for a magazine of this genre.
8. Looking back at your
preliminary task (the school
magazine), what do you feel you
have learnt in the progression
from it to full product?
Looking back at my preliminary task,
I can see various things that I have
learnt while constructing my main
task. The main thing I have learnt is
Photoshop, when I began this task I didn’t know how to use Photoshop at all, but
after creating the magazine and watching tutorials online, I now know how to work
with several aspects of the program and would be able to use them confidently if I
needed to in the future.
Another thing I learned is about taking photos. I think without good lighting, your
pictures look unprofessional. When I did my preliminary task, I didn’t really know
this. But as I completed my final task I realised this and planned my photo shoot
accordingly.
10. Whilst on my photo shoot in Central London with my models, I encountered
some problems regarding lighting. In my brainstorm, I stated that I would use
high-key natural lighting, but when I took some of my pictures, it was too dark.
So to rectify this problem, I moved my models to a different location, where the
lighting was more suited to my camera.
11. What Have You Learnt About
Technologies From The Process of
Constructing This Product?
12. When I began creating my magazine on desktop publishing
program Photoshop, I didn’t know how to use it properly. I
knew from research that most magazines cut out their bands
from the original image and place them on a different
background. So, to overcome not knowing how to use
Photoshop to do this, I watched a Youtube video which tutors
you on how to carry out the task. Before I researched, I created
a front cover without using this skill, but once I learned how to
do it I created another. And I feel because I did learn how to do
this, my overall product benefited from this.
14. I organised the people involved in the magazine in various different ways. For
example, with my choices for members of the band I made a list of names
which included people who met certain criteria, this included: their look (did
they look like they could appear in a rock magazine?), their age (were they of the
age I wanted my band to be?), their musical taste (did they actually enjoy this
genre of music?). I then put them in order of how much I thought they would fit
in the magazine. After I collated all of this information, I looked at my
production schedule and came to a decision on the date of the photo shoot.
My final 3 models
(L-R): Christian,
Becky and Natalya
15. How did you manage locations for
photographs and any costumes
and props?
16. After researching rock music and the general
clothing worn by people in this genre, I made
a mood board containing types of clothing I
wanted my models to wear (complete mood
board can be found in this post).We then all
(my models and I) talked about
clothing/make-up choices and came to a
decision on their outfits.
I decided against using props such as guitars
because I realised that most front covers did
not have props like these. And I also thought
that would take away from the band
themselves, and would decrease focus on
them.
18. Front Cover
My magazine’s main colours are blue and white. These colours go very well
together, I like the way that they are very complimentary of each other.
However, the shade of blue I have chosen I feel is a little too bright. I think
it would be beneficial for me to make the colour a bit softer to make it easier
of the eyes for the readers and make them more likely to pick up the
magazine and buy it.
The main image on the front cover is very good. I think the positioning of
the ‘band members’ is very good, but I think that the lighting makes its
professionalism decrease. The light is much brighter from the right hand
side, it is not even. In magazines the light is much better, and much clearer.
If I were to do this magazine again, I would perhaps use an SLR camera
which would leave me with more professional images. I chose an image
where the band’s faces could be seen easily. And I chose to use a white
background as it isn’t too overwhelming to the eyes of the readers. I think
that this decision has worked very well as it has given me much more
freedom in the range of accent colours I can use for covers lines and the
mast head.
On the front cover, I decided to only use two fonts, one for the main cover
line and another for the other cover lines. I decided to do this because it
makes it easier to distinguish the difference between the importance of the
articles. Both of the fonts are clear and easy to read. But a downfall could be
that the fonts are both quite normal, generic fonts and don’t lend
themselves to telling the readers what genre of magazine it is. I perhaps
should have used fonts with jagged edges or cracks in it to show the more
edgy, rebellious nature of the genre of music.
19. Contents page
My contents page has various different colours for the fonts. I think
this is good because it separates each section of the contents for the
reader at a glance. In the letter from the editor, I like the difference
in font and colour. I think the three colours I have chosen – blue,
purple and red – go very well together and aren’t too bright as to
take focus away from the band members at the bottom of the page.
The image in the background of the contents I think is very good and
looks very professional. I think the way that I have used the empty
space at the top of the picture as a place to put the text enhances this.
The quote that is placed in the bottom half of the page, I think was a
good addition to the page because it lets people get an insight into
the article and the people that it’s about.
However, I think that if I were to take the background image again, I
would have made sure I’d taken the photo at a slightly different
angle. Where I took the picture from, you can see plants in the
bottom left hand corner. Because there aren’t any plants on the other
side, it doesn’t balance out and I think that it doesn’t look as
professional.
Also, most magazines don’t feature the same band on the front cover
and also on the contents, so if I were to redo this part of the
magazine, I would retake the picture with a different group of people
so it would fit the conventions of this genre.
20. Features Article
I believe that my features article is very good. I used two
different texts for the headline of my article. By doing this, it
shows a contrast; a soft font for the words ‘Secret’ and ‘Party’,
and the word ‘Moustache’ has a cleaner cut font. I think this
highlights the name of the band, making it stand out. By
having the image of the moustache in the same colour as the
word moustache in the headline, shows a sense of
cohesion. Also, the red used in the headline is the same red
used on the splash on the front cover; it makes the magazine
seem like a complete unit.
The Polaroid on the right hand side of the first page overlaps
onto the second page, I think that this shows
On the second page, there is a splash which shows how you can
get in touch with the band. I think that this is a particularly
good feature because the colour of the splash is red like the
words in the headline on the other page. This balances the use
of the red over the whole article.
On the right hand side of the page there is a strip of pictures of
the band, it evens out the amount of words on the rest of the
page. It makes the article look more like a professional article.
21. What Kind of Media Institution
Might Distribute Your Media
Product and Why?
22. IPC Media
IPC Media (formerly International Publishing
Corporation), a wholly owned subsidiary of Time Inc. is
consumer magazine and digital publisher in the United
Kingdom, with a large portfolio selling over 350 million
copies every year.
Notable magazine: NME
I have chosen this company to be the one to publish my magazine. IPC would
be good company to publish my magazine as it already successfully publishes
NME. Also, it has no direct competition for my magazine, as my magazine is
aimed at an audience who listen to slightly heavier music than those who
read NME.
23. Bauer Media
The Bauer Media Group (Bauer Verlagsgruppe) is a large German
publishing company based in Hambugh, which operates in 15
countries worldwide. Since the company was founded in 1875, it has
been privately-owned and under management by the Bauer family.
It was formerly called Heinreich Bauer Verlag KG, abbreviated to
HBV and usually shortened to H. Bauer Worldwide circulation of
Bauer Media Group‟s magazine titles amounts to 38 million
magazines a week.
Notable magazines: Kerrang!, Mojo, Q
Despite Bauer Media’s success I wouldn’t use it to publish my magazine. This is
because it already publishes Kerrang!, Mojo and Q Magazine, and these
magazines would be competition. But on the other hand, because they have had
success at marketing these similar products, it would mean that they could do
the same for my product, potentially making it as successful as Kerrang, one of
the highest-selling music magazines in the UK. Therefore I do not believe
they’d want to launch a product which would be in direct competition with on
of its most successful products.
24. Time management
To successfully manage, before the beginning of the construction process I created
a production schedule. This laid out what I needed to complete it order to meet my
deadline of the end of December.
Each week I set myself task(s) to do that were reasonable and that I believe I could
complete within a week.
e.g. Week 4: Research competition and magazine conventions
I think that my time management was good because it led to me completing
everything well within the time limit. It also helped me to know what I was doing
each week so I didn’t do too much or too little in any given week.
25. How did you attract/address your audience?
I attracted my audience my audience by making the readers feel
as though the people in the magazine are just like them. The
clothes that the models are wearing are very casual and
something that the readers themselves could wear.
I have portrayed the band as being very similar to my target
audience. This will make the audience more likely to connect
with the people in the magazine and therefore buy the magazine.
Another way I attracted readers was by displaying a competition
on the front cover. Download Festival is one of rock’s most
coveted festivals and many people would love the chance to
perform there.
Also, by listing the other bands that feature in the magazine, if
people don’t know/don’t like the main band, they have several
alternatives to read about.
