2. My magazine is aimed at young teenagers aged between 12-15. It is for teenagers that are into pop. Therefore I have made my magazine bright and colourful to make it stand out from the rest. I did this by using block colours. Who would be the audience for your media product? As my magazine is for young teens, I have added free gifts and fun stories to get them interested so they will choose my magazine over another. Also the questions in my interview on the double page spread are quite fun and the background is also fun with the dolly mixtures to make it more appealing. The price may be a bit more than magazines such as Look and More, but for a magazine that comes with free gifts , young teenagers will be willing to pay for it as they think the gift is free. My music magazine is very specific to target an audience that do like pop music, looking at the cover it is mainly about music. But there is a section that I decided to add as a lot of the music magazines are now to do with fashion.

3. How does your media product represent particular social groups? My media product is a magazine that is aimed at people aged 12-15. The band is also a very stereo typical girl band as they are all white British girl group. I also used the word ‘Free’ as it is what young people respond to and one of the first thing that they will notice about the magazine. The language I used in my magazine is not complicated so it will appeal to the young audience and it is not overly formal I also kept it up beat in the punctuation as I used lots of exclamation marks. Teenagers are represented in my media product by using an all group girl band on the cover as there are many successful girl pop groups around. These are bright colours on the front which appeals to the young reader and there is a strong use of pink.

4. How did you attract / address your audience? I attracted my audience by using right colours on the front to make it stand out and grab the attention of the audience. I added pictures to the front to make it appealing. I used the word ‘free’ to grab the readers attention. I also made it a different colour. Also by having free gifts, they are more likely to choose my magazine over on without gifts. I created a rhetorical question in the form of ‘Who is this?!’ to get them thinking and make them want to pick it up. This addresses the audience so they feel involved.

5. In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? The use of a big picture on the front is a typical convention that I used. Many magazines that I have looked at use a main big picture of the main feature in the middle with some other surrounding pictures. Magazines that are aimed at the same age group as mine use lots of pictures as it appeals more to the audience. In almost every magazine that I research of the magazine, there were specific house styles and colours used. This then carried on throughout the rest of the magazine. I did this by keeping to the main colours of pink yellow and blue.

6. I created the price label big and central. This is so it stands out for the younger audience. This is used in many other magazine to grab the readers attention. The price is quite expensive for a magazine but as there are free gifts the price is justified. I created my title using block rounded letters. This gave my magazine a fun feel. I choose the word pulse as it is the back beat to all music and is a short catchy name. Barcodes are typical on magazines as they are used when being sold. This was a typical convention that I used.

7. Also on my contents page I have added a new section which is about fashion. This is a new take on an average music magazine as it is what I think more and more music magazines are heading towards in the future. In a lot of contents pages that I looked at, subheadings were used under the title to explain a bit more about that section. I used this idea in my contents page. I split the interview up into different colours when each of the girls in the group gives an answer. This is sometimes used in interviews to tell when the interview question stops and the answer stars. In a lot of magazines aimed at teenagers they always include lots of pictures of the band. I did the same but I did it by making them look like Polaroid pictures.

8. There are many publishers of magazines. The main area that I am focusing on are magazines aimed at young teenagers. The ones I have chosen to look at are; Bliss Top Of The Pops Sugar What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

9. Top Of The Pops Top of the Pops magazine is a monthly magazine which is published by the BBC. It is aimed at young girl teenagers. It was originally marketed as the missing link between Smash Hits and NME, but its format was gradually changed, with less music content and a demographic shift to young girls. It features chart information, star gossip, fashion and beauty advice, quizzes, song lyrics and posters.

10. Sugar Sugar deals with the concerns of teenage girls. The magazine features an advice column that answers questions sent in by readers, typically dealing with relationships, body image and health issues. Sugar is a British magazine for teenage girls. Its content focuses on boys, fashion, celebrities, real-life stories about teenagers and other similar matters. Sugar magazine is published by Hachette Filipacchi UK LTD. This company is committed to creating great magazines and websites that inspire, compel and entertain readers. ELLE, ELLE Decoration, Red, Sugar, Psychologies, Inside Soap and All About Soap.

11. Bliss Bliss is a monthly British magazine which is published by Panini UK LTD. It is aimed at teenage girls aged between 14 -17. It currently retails at £2.50 and often comes with a free gift such as make-up or a bag. It currently retails at £2.50 and often comes with a free gift such as make-up or a bag. I would choose this company as it distributes magazines for the same age group as mine and also uses around the same price . This magazine also touches on music, and mine does the same with fashion so there could be a link between the two. Also the company does not yet produce a music magazine so there is a gap in the market for it. The content covers candid celebrity gossip, latest fashions, hair and make-up looks, a problem page on puberty, boyfriends, friends and sex, interview with the female celebrity cover girl, entertainment reviews, romance advice, psychology for friendships and real life stories.

12. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? I also have learnt to lighten pictures whilst keeping them natural, shown in the pictures below. I did this because when it is in my contents page, it looked dull and represented more of a indie band. By slightly lightening the picture it makes it fit within the magazine. I can now use Photoshop as my skills on Photoshop have improved a lot. I have learnt about the different layers and how to re-edit text and how to edit pictures. I have also learnt several methods of editing backgrounds out on pictures to keep it looking as natural as possible. I can also use a Nikon camera with all the lights set up for the lighting. This helps to give it a professional feel to it as it helps the lighting to look natural.

13. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? I have also learnt about the setup of small studios. I have learnt about the lighting and about the direction to shoot from to get the best picture to suit what I want. I have learnt to organise my time better as when I was creating my preliminary piece I rushed it so I didn’t get the correct fell or the correct look for the pictures. I have also researched more about other magazines to get the right feel for mine. Vs I have learnt that you don’t always have to stick to the original plan if it means a change for the better. Also I have learnt how to do better research and to research key things. I also get a feel for how most magazines are set up and how the most simple looking ones are sometimes the most complicated to make.