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

2. I wanted my magazine to reflect an existing magazine, so for this to happen I have tried to use all the conventions
included in a magazine. The genre of my magazine is pop so looking at an existing pop magazine helped influence
my decision as to the creation of my front cover. http://kategxoxo.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/conventions-of-
magazine.html Masthead
Cover Star using
direct address
Cover line – Puff
Exclusive Interview
Main Cover line
Date/Price
Selling Line, not in
Barcode
it’s original place
I wanted my magazine to be unique so I intentionally put the selling line at the bottom to subtly challenge the
convention but everything else is placed correctly as I do want my magazine to appear realistic.

3. Here shows two existing magazines and my magazine. Both magazines influenced the creation of my own, as I
liked the simplicity and old fashioned style of ‘Photoplay’ but I also feel ‘Top of the Pops’ relate more to my target
audience and it is in fact a music magazine with pop music as the genre. By meeting halfway I feel I kept the
vintage feel of ‘Photoplay’ but as it is a modern teenage audience I am aiming at ‘Top of the Pops’ certainly
helped create a more girly, music magazine with contemporary conventions. Both magazines, use a cover star and
direct address, essential features of a magazine, I knew I would need to do this in order to create an engaging
magazine for my audience.

4. Here is ‘Top of the Pops’
contents page and my contents
page. There is a clear contrast
between the two, however I did
base my contents page on this
magazine but again did not
want it too look to crowded
and opted for less being more.
If I could change one this
about my contents page it
would be the contents page as I
feel it looks rushed as
‘Editor’s’ Note’ feature
although appearing in
magazines regularly was a last
minute decision due to the fact
I needed 4 original images in
my magazine. However the
content of the contents page
i.e. ‘Cringe! Your real life
embarrassing stories’ I feel fits
well with my target market.

5. Here is my double page spread, I’m very
pleased with it, instead of doing a
generic question and answer interview, I
decided to actually write an article with
some bits of direct speech from my Cover
Star, this enabled me to fit a lot more
writing on than before. I also added her
new single ‘Love Birds’ at the bottom
which I felt made the article seem more
realistic, using celebrity endorsement.
The cover star is again using direct
address which I feel is crucial, engaging
the reader. The small piece of pink
writing, is normally used in magazines, a
direct quote from the article. I also tried
to keep in with the vintage theme as well
and I feel I have achieved this. Below
shows again Top of the Pops’ double
page spread it is quite similar, and I
based my double page spread on this. I
liked the big photo on one page and the
article on the other.

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

7. My magazine has a target audience of teenage girls. I feel my magazine beats today’s stereotypical view of
teen girls, as through the images and content of my magazine a girly, innocence view is represented. I also
wanted a stereotypical 21st century girl... Even though my magazine is a 50’s based magazine. As you can
see on my target audience slide, there is a typical girl who would read this magazine.

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

9. BAUER MEDIA
http://www.bauermedia.co.uk/brands
Record magazine would be distributed by this company, as BAUER MEDIA appeals to mass markets
distributing magazines such as Closer, Gratzia etc. My magazine appeals to a mass audience of Pop
music lovers. I also feel my magazine would be popular amongst my target market as it is original and
not any typical pop magazine.

10. Who would be the target market
for your media product and why?

11. This is a typical reader of my magazine.
Age: 16
Interests: Music, fashion, friends, tumblr, her
boyfriend, social networking, Starbucks, likes
watching old films and going shopping.
My target market would have a quirky edge
to them whether it be through their
hair., makeup or what they wear.

12. How did you attract/address your
audience?

13. The 50’s/vintage theme of my magazine plays a huge part in attracting my target market. Many
tumblr pages have been made by girls, dedicated to the 50’s and vintage etc. I felt by making this type
of my magazine that appeals to today’s girls would be successful.
http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/50s
http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/vintage
The language/features used also attract my target market as words like ‘Cringe’ are relatable to my
target audience. I also used features I feel would attract more of a mass audience Justin Bieber for
example as he has over 30 million followers on twitter, and he’s such a big star.
http://kategxoxo.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/analysis-of-language_29.html
My masthead also is consistent with the theme but also adds a girly touch to my magazine which I
felt was important. The colour pink being the main colour I feel is very attractive to young girls, but I
didn’t want to do it over the top so it looked tacky.

14. The pictures used also add a vintage retro feel, through editing and manipulating them on my
computer I could achieve the vintage/retro appeal they have. I also used a website
www.photogramic.com to get the sparkly effects on them.

15. What have you learnt about
technologies from the process of
constructing the product?

16. I enjoyed using Blogger as it was all computer based and no need for lots of sheets and folders, I
could update when it suited me which was also another bonus. However time management was
something that I had to remember when using Blogger as you can’t change the date, so therefore I
and to make sure the number and time of blogs was consistent throughout.
I used Paint.net and Publisher to create my magazine. At first I found Paint.net extremely hard to use
and manipulating photos very difficult, it took me a while to familiarise myself with all the different
effects and tools on there . I did an blog on experimenting with Paint.net which helped a lot.
http://kategxoxo.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/paintnet-expriment.html
In the end I used Paint.net to create my front cover and I was extremely pleased with it. I used publisher to create my contents page and
double page spread, I felt it was easier as there was a lot of text so publisher was the best option.

17. Here shows my preliminary task and how much I have improved on both Paint.net and Publisher.
Strengths
• Lots of effects that make my
magazine look more professional
• Once you get the hang of it, it is
extremely easy to use.
•Enables you to edit photo’s and
both can be saved as jpegs and then
can be uploaded on to blog.
Weaknesses
•It can be quite time consuming if
you don’t know how to use it
•It often crashes and sometimes
there is a problem with memory
•The different layers are hard to keep
up with

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

19. I feel I have improved an awful lot from my Preliminary task for example my magazine looks a lot
more professional. The big star on the first cover looks childish. However I have kept the simplicity
by not crowding my front cover with lots of cover lines. I have also learnt how to get rid of the
background. I feel my final piece is a lot better, and look a lot more professional.

20. I feel my final contents appeals to my target market, however the ‘Editor’s Note’ really ruins the
contents page., so I think I prefer my original preliminary task contents than my final. My first
contents looked well laid out and simple, whereas mine final looks rushed, and doesn’t include a lot
of content. I have learnt from this process that doing my contents page first would have been easiest
as it is the core of my product and the most time consuming.

21. What do you think about your
final product?

22. I am extremely pleased with my front cover, and I feel, it fits in with the criteria I aimed for right at
the start of my project. I feel it is original, and still fits with my target market. My contents page I feel
is my worst as it was rushed and if I were to do this project again it would be the first thing I’d do. I
am happy with my double page spread too.

23. By Katie Greaves