In what ways dose your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
When looking at my magazine I tried to create a new type of music magazine that aims to inspire people and not just provide information this allows it to be vulgar other than typical magazines which is used to get the point across to the reader as well as making a statement. Using a typical house style with three main colours it sticks to the convention of most magazine colour schemes. To create a simple but effective magazine I used Myriad Pro as my base font to give a serious but informed look to the magazine’s double page spread as well as the cover and contents pages. With my main graphic on my contents page I used the outline of a fist to represent power to everyday people and filled it with prejudice words, lines from political songs and quotes from human rights activists from around the world, creating an impact on the reader and showing the meaning behind the magazine, that this is what people should be fighting against. Using a similar fist graphic throughout the magazine I’ve utilised these adding pulling lines to give information on competitions as well as highlight bold statements made by artists within my articles. On my front page I challenged a new convention by adding a parental advisory logo, although this magazine’s audience is 15-25 age because of the vulgar language within the magazine parents may want to read it before their children does. This challenges the convention of the every day magazine with it speaking out exactly what the journalists are thinking with out yellow coating its contents.
How dose your media product represent particular social groups? What social groups are you representing? (Audience and subjects of the magazine)
Although my magazine is intended for any social group it has strong ties to the Rock genre in music and has a new punk stereo type. With the graphic features of the fists in place it show a sense of fighting along with the political content against fascism, racism ext. It reaches out to the not so every day audience and redefines a new genre for the magazine industry.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
When doing a case study I found out that the publishing company IPC distributed NME and still dose to this day but during the 70’s this magazine sold a lot due to the fact new underground righters such as Tony Parsons and Julie Burchill who came to the NME with little and no experience. With a similar genre to my magazine at the time and articles presented the more likely of the two major magazine distributor IPC and Bauer, IPC would take an interest in my magazine knowing that the content within my magazine already sells major numbers, due to the past in the 70’s when the NME had a massive hit rate with the content published.
http://www.punk77.co.uk/wip/julieburchill.htm#top
Who would be the audience for your media product?
My magazine is based to reach all audiences, during my research I found that this magazine was more likely to sell within the age range of 15-25. With its more rock based music genre readers of magazines such as NME, KERRANG and Metal Hammer are more likely to be interested in the magazine and its content witch is largely sold to a male audience rather than a female audience who are more inclined to buy Grazia or OK magazine.
How did you attract / address your audience?
When looking at these magazines I tried to produce a similar music genre as well as challenging the conventions of typical rock magazines. With similar a house style and colour codeing I created a typical look to my rock magazine with new features, punishing headlines and pulling lines to capture and shock the readers.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
To create my music magazine I use Adobe Photoshop CS4 with this I learned to place images, blend layers and change colours and opacities as well as using digital camera to take images for the front cover and pages of my magazine. When using this type of program in the office although difficult to grasp at first it can create a wide range of effects and changes to the work and turns into an indispensible piece of equipment for creators of magazines ext. Along with this magazine companies are using convergence to create online magazines, as the technology grows its understandable that soon print issues of magazines will no longer need to be produce in a new digital age costs are becoming cheaper but ultimately distributers like IPC may loose out.
Looking back at your preliminary task (college Magazine cover and contents page) what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
When I began my music magazine I new little on how to use Adobe Photoshop as I progressed through the work I’ve learnt new skills to create a desired effect of my music magazine. When comparing it to my college magazine it easy to see the progress I have achieved through my work adding graphic features and using simple magazine techniques to my work allowing it to stand out and look more professional for the genre its intended, and creating a clear understanding of different magazine genres. The research I looked into created a good understanding on what types of music magazines sell as well as the typical stereotypes and genres that go along with my music magazine. By using NRS (National Readership Profile) I found the most likely audience for my magazine and managed to create a new genre that would interest the readers of similar genres such as rock, punk and metal. Overall the skills I have developed have helped me produce a magazine that would create an impact on its readers and show a different side to all the issues it outlines making it a magazine genre that may change the way its audience thinks.
