The document discusses how the media product uses and challenges conventions of real pop magazines. It describes using conventions like a dominant cover image, anchoring images, catchy colors and layouts. However, it also challenges conventions by filling the inside with many small celebrity photos instead of just text to appeal to its younger audience. The document discusses what was learned from referencing real magazines and how the product represents its target audience of teenage girls.

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

2. Throughout the process of making my magazines I’ve been
constantly referring back to the conventions of pop magazines.
From looking at my research I discovered that most pop magazines
don’t just use a dominant image but they also use other images as
anchorage. The ‘We Love Pop’ magazines are good examples of
how other images are used as well as a dominant image. This is to
interest the readers and catch their eye with many different stories.
The ‘We Love Pop’ front covers are examples of what my magazine
front cover is mostly like. Such as ‘We Love Pop’ magazine I have
used a dominant image but also other images for anchorage. I also
used a similar colour scheme such as bright pink as its eye catching
and exciting. For my front cover I used a medium long shot as from
my research I discovered that the pose of celebrity was striking so I
used this photo and shot as the pose was obvious and effective.
A convention I have used is the magazine title. I used a big bold
title which all magazines do to try and get their name out there. I
decided to put my title over my picture because as you can see
from the 2 ‘We Love Pop’ magazines the image is usually the
bottom layer in pop magazines and then the anchorage and smaller
images on top.
I also stuck to the convention of aiming the magazine to girl
readers. This was because through market research I found that
almost only girls purchased pop magazines unlike other genres
such as rock magazines as they have both male and female readers.
Knowing that the magazine was aimed at teenage girls gave me an
advantage as I am still a teenager and know what the readers
would be interested/attracted too.

3. As you can see from the two images to the right I decided to
stick to a similar lay out as the Top of the Pops contents page.
I like how they had used an image of the front cover
highlighting which page each article is on as it makes it clear
were to go for what.
I have also used boxes to put the page numbers and story
titles into like the top of the pops magazine. I felt this was a
good idea because it makes the layout more interesting but
also categorises the stories. For example one of the categories
is named ‘Celebs & Gossip’ which contains stories of
celebrities and the latest rumours. Another idea I have used
from the top of the pops contents page is to highlight the
page numbers of the articles. This is to show clearly where
and watch page the article is on.

4. I have challenged the conventions of the pop magazine. I have
not only just used a dominant image I have also filled the
article with miniature pictures of Nathalie. I decided to do this
because in my planning I wanted to have my page 60% photos
and 40% writing. This decision was made through my research
and questionnaires to find out what people wanted in a pop
magazine. Because my magazine is aimed at a younger
audience I found out that they would rather look at the
pictures and fact files instead of reading articles.
Pull quotes are used by most magazines so I decided to use
them to attract my audience with a gripping one liner from
the interview. My pull quote shows a slice of gossip which
makes the readers want to read what was said before and so
on.
With my articles I chose to set them into two columns. I
looked at setting them into three but the text was far too big
and I personally think two columns looks better. I also chose
to do two columns as its less writing and more room for
pictures so this fit in with my target audience and their needs.
By doing an interview article on a female solo artist I have
challenged the conventions of a pop magazine. Pop magazines
usually feature popular boy bands such as One Direction or
The Wanted as the target audience is teenage girls but I’ve
shown that a solo artist can be just as effective if not more as
my article story is powerful and the audience can connect.

5. How does your media
product represent
particular social groups?

6. My media product represents your stereotypical teenage girl. Someone
always needing advice on the latest fashion and wanting to know the
gossip on their favourite celebrities. By doing my research questionnaire
of what 13-16 year old girls wanted in their magazine I came up with the
articles, headlines and advice pages. I decided to use a positive photo of
Nathalie as my front cover which makes the media product look fun and
excitable which is what most teenage girls would be interested in. I
decided to use the pink and purple house style as its bright, eye catching
and would interest the audience straight away. Also pop magazines are
associated with colours such as pink, purple, white, yellow and blue so my
thoughts were that my media product would be recognised for what it is.
I feel that throughout my product it gives a bubbly excitable impression
which suites my social group as its all aimed at the certain
group/audience.

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

8. Bauer media is an institution in which publishes world wide in 15
countries, this would be good for my magazine to get publicity.
Its also a family business so I know that its stable. The only
problem I have is that I’ve found out that Bauer media targets
adult audiences through there magazines so I don’t know if it
would be the best to distribute a pop magazine aimed at
teenagers.
IPC media targets a number of audiences such as men, women and
upper class women. The magazines distributed by this institution are
‘Country Life’ , ‘Look’ and ‘Marie Clare’. They also distribute NME
magazine which is also a popular music magazine.

9. From looking at the different institutions I have researched I’ve
decided that the best media group to distribute my magazine
would be IPC Media. This is because it does distribute a popular
music magazine but not one with the same genre so I think they
have a perfect gap in their market for my pop magazine.

10. Who would be the audience for
your media product?

11. I have aimed my media product at female girls aged from 12-16 years old. I
came to this decision through my questionnaire. 85% of the feedback was
girls and 64% was between the ages 12-16. I’ve targeted at them by using
bright girly colours such as pink, purple and white. Also my font style is bold
and in your face to catch the readers eyes. I used a female as the dominant
image and article story to show a strong independent young lady doing well
and inspiring others. I dressed Nathalie in the latest fashion with clothing
from a popular teenage store Topshop in hope that the audience can look
up to her and use her style. I’ve priced my magazine at £1 which is more
than affordable for the middle class teenager. Although I put the price lower
then what my audience said they would pay because I wanted my magazine
to be cheap and popular.

12. How did you attract/address your
audience?

13. For attracting my audience I decided the best way for a pop
magazine would be to concentrate on the colours of my front page
and from my questionnaire I decided to aim at teenage girls. By
having a concentrated audience it made my decisions a lot easier.
For example the colours I used was bright pink, pale pink, purple
and white. I felt the front page was the most important as it’s the
first thing seen so it’s the most advertised part.
I also attracted my audience by using articles including popular
teenage artists such as One Direction, Justin Bieber, Rihanna and
Little Mix as they are current and in the charts. I decided to use a
female as the dominant image so that the audience could connect
through her style, attitude and story. Through my questionnaire I
discovered people felt that £2.50 was a reasonable price for a
magazine so I decided to give the magazine a VFM through the
price. By making my magazine £1 I want people to feel as if they’ve
gained something rather than being ripped off for a few pages. I
made the title of my magazine bold and unique with the
tendencies of it becoming like a logo; recognisable.
Although I am happy with my product I always feel there is room
for improvement for example leave less gaps on my page which
could be done with better time management.

14. What have you learnt about
technologies from the process of
making this product?

15. I used slide share which converts a power point document into a
slideshow which I can upload to my personal blog. I have never used this
site before making my music magazine and I found it very useful and will
definitely be using it in the future.

16. Another programme I used throughout the process of making my
magazine was photoshop. Before making my magazine I had never
used this programme but it helped me so much with editing my
photos, testing colours and creating my documents. Now I know a
lot about photoshop I would definitely use it in the future especially
for editing as it is very straight forward and simple.

17. In our first media lesson of the year we set up our own blogs and I have
used this site throughout the whole process. I have uploaded my tasks, my
problems with my work, my successful points of my work and final
products. Before I had heard of blogs but never saw the point in them but I
have realised how easy and useful it has been. we've had access to
previous students work through their blogs which has been incredibly
useful. The blog has also allowed our teacher to see where we are all at
with the process and let her comment on our work.

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

19. Looking back at my preliminary task I can see that I
have
progressed massively as the preliminary task looks
amateur compared to my final product. This is
understandable as it was my first time in using most
of the media programmes. My final product looks
much more professional with the choice of
colour, the text and even the camera shot.
I’m glad I decided to use a plain white background
as it makes the pink stand out. Whereas on the
preliminary task the background makes it difficult
for the text to be read and the choice of colour of
the text really doesn’t help this. At the time I felt my
preliminary task was pretty good but now I can see
how my mind has changed and developed through
all the research and endless looking through
magazines.
Before
After