1. 1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? My layout and design of my magazine is designed in similar way to the big selling magazines like Kerrang, Mojo, NME, Q and VIBE. I did this because I wanted the magazine to be able to compete with other top notch magazines. The Layout of my magazine follows the layout of many others, I have researched a many music magazines and their layout designs. I did this because I wanted my magazine to be as accurate and professional as it could be. Like all other magazines it needed a front cover photo so I looked at other magazines to get a certain idea as to how the layout is set out. I decided to go with a medium shot picture as most magazines seemed to follow this trend. I made her make eye contact with the camera so it attracts the audience. I realised how important this is and the relevance of it as all of the magazines I researched had the people in the picture stare into the camera to get eye contact. My magazine mast head is very similar to Kerrang, even my front cover has similar layout design to Kerrang. I felt Kerrang was the right choice as it follows my rock theme and has a mast head that caught my eye first. I also used the same layout for the eyebrow. After I took the picture it needed editing so I blended the image into the background and I used the “Lasso Tool” to cut out the impurities. The only colours I used on the front page of my magazine is Black, Red and White. I used them because I wanted to keep in style with Bauer publishing's house colours. On most of the magazines I looked at they were giving out free CD’s and/or other small products e.g. Posters. The did this mostly to promote some artists and also entice the audience to buy the magazines , so I decided I would do something like that and give a free CD in the magazine to help viewers to buy it. I was going through ideas of names for a music magazine and I decided to go with “SOUND” as the magazine is specifically musically orientated. The main article in the magazine is in red writing , bold and in a different font because I wanted it to stand out.

2. Contents On the contents page I decided not to use the Title (SOUND) on the page as I felt it did not fit with the page and I noticed there is a convention within music magazines not to use the title on this page, examples of this would be Q magazine and Mojo. I still kept with the house colours on the contents page as I decided to keep a certain theme going on and create a unity within the pages. I think its really important that all pages in the magazine looks like its all from one magazine not different ones. I made the image on the page a medium shot, positioned to the right instead of using many Pictures as I felt it looked messy with more pictures on the page. I made the picture Black and white as it made the page look better in general. And it fits with the overall colour scheme and house style.

3. 2) How does your media product represent particular social groups? The social Group of my music magazine is mainly aimed at d,c2,c1,b groups from at 16-30 years olds. So the main people that will read this magazine is people at college, university and Young adults. My magazine is a light Rock/Indie magazine, which means only a certain Group of people that like that music would buy the magazine. The age group range is shown on the front cover as the picture is of somebody that is a young adult, the image also looks Rocky hence going with the theme of the magazine. The theme is continued throughout the magazine on the content page and double page spread. The language used throughout my magazine is informal “slang”. This can be casual style of writing but not too casual as I don’t want my readers to think the magazine is Unprofess- ional and lazy. In rock culture musicians do tend to have a hab- it of swearing a lot although they do not use much slang. In the magazine I did not use any inappropriate pictures as I did not want to give a wrong impression of the magazine.

4. 3) What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? Distribution is probably the most important part of a media institution. For the magazine to have the best chance of selling a lot of copies and doing well I would have to obtain help from a bigger media institution. A potential music institution would be Bauer as they have cross media ownership so my magazine should have bigger sales with more promotion as then can advertise my magazine on the radio and TV. Another reason why Bauer would be a Good media institution is because they do not have any rock magazines targeting any of my audiences which means they will have a wider range of audience. Also I decided to choose Bauer media because is because it would be a better idea to corporate with magazines like Kerrang rather then compete with then.

5. 4) Who would be the audience for your media product? The audience for my media project was decided at the beginning of the task. I satirically aimed it at a new genre of music fans those whoa re influenced by Hip-Hop, Rock and indie music. I found a niche in the market where both lovers of Rock and light Hip hop can both harmonise. I was influenced by Linkin Park and Jay-z Numb/Encore. The magazine would be for fans of rock/indie music, aged between 16-30. This magazine may also attract people interested in light hip-hop. This concept has been brought about through the influence of festivals with acts such as Tinie Tempah,and Jay-z all performing on the main at Glastonbury. The targeted audience is mainly meant for light rock/indie fans and people interested in light hip-hop. Another audience for my magazine are just people in general who want to keep up to date with all the current and modern rock music.

6. 5) How did you attract/address your audience? To attract and address my audience was not so difficult because as long as you know what your audience does, what they like, how they dress, the attitude of your audience and how they think you just need to give them what they want. Since the audience I was attracting was meant to be for people that are fans of rock/indie and light hip-hop music I used bright colours like red and white to stand out on the front page. Another very good way that I managed to attract my audience was through giving out an incentive to buy the magazine. I decided to give out a free CD if they Buy the magazine, as well as a poster. I did this because I think it will help the magazine increase sales as people will generally feel they are getting a better deal and more for their moneys worth if they get a free CD and poster if they but the magazine. The price for my audience is £3.49, I did this price because I felt it was a fair and affordable price for the music magazine. The Title also attracts the audience and they know what they are getting by the title (SOUND) which clearly is to do with music. I also attracted my audience by not putting anything inappropriate on the front cover and also using very interesting headlines on the front of the magazine so the reader/consumer knows what latest stories in the music industry will be inside the magazine.

7. 6) What have you learnt about technologies for the process of constructing this product? From the start of the media project I have learnt a lot about different sorts of technologies and the process of constructing the product. The main process I used throughout the whole project was researching. Google Is a great search engine which enabled me to search for certain information I needed quick and efficiently. A learnt how to take proper photo’s with a digital camera which took a lot of time to get right. The main thing I was most proud of learning was how to use Photoshop and Indesign. The reason why I was so glad to learn about to use Photoshop and Indesign was because they were both so complex and difficult to use. This was very challenging as I had never used anything like them in my life but it was a great trying to figure out how to use them as its more satisfactory doing something yourself. They both had many loads functions and many different options. After a lot of time practicing I managed to fully understand both files and use it to my advantage and I edited some of the pictures I took with the digital camera and made them look professional. After mastering both files, I used them to change the look of the magazine. I also learnt how to use Slide Share. This is basically a file changing format so I could convert and upload all of my project to my web page.

8. 7) Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? From the preliminary task to the progression of the full product I feel like I have learnt how to properly create a magazine from scratch using other magazines as inspiration for my own. I have learnt a how to use a digital camera properly, How to use Indesign and Photoshop and countless other files and documents. I have learnt the basis of how an actual magazine is made in a company and all the other factors that go with it e.g. the audience, the age and attitudes. I have also learnt many of the fundamentals as to how the retail of a magazine is and how to incise the audience into buying the magazine, whether it be using freebees like posters or CDs or even having exclusive information in the magazine that no one else has. I have learnt many things during the progression of this magazine and will hope to use though skills in the future.