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Friday 15 March 2013

final magazine changes

    For the last magazine final piece, a range of changes have been made to it, the colour scheme is something that is mainly shown in the final piece, as it is fairly clear as to how it stands out now. Also there i snow less pages as any excess pages that I used before, have now been deleted and now, as it was 9 pages previously, it now consists of only 6 now as that is all that is needed, the layout of the newest magazine is also a big factor as many things are now different in every single page, for example in the interview page, there is a quote in the middle of the text. also the main masthead has been changed along with everything else on the main front cover.

Thursday 7 March 2013

Q5: How do you attract/ address your audience

Question 5: How do you attract/ address your audience
My magazine is aimed to attract its target audience in many ways. One way is through the use of the headlines as the fonts are used in an edgy manner which is meant to be cool and to stand out, this is something which the age range in which my magazine is aimed at as teenagers or young adults often take a shine to bold unique looking fonts and it adds an unusual approach to grabbing the audience’s attention as in most magazines the fonts are kept fairly plain and the audience is attracted through the use of the image which I wanted to do through both the font and the image itself. The image I have used in my magazine is going to take up the majority of the space provided on the main cover page as a typical magazine consists of this and mine will too, as the picture is made large, the image helps attract the target audience. The colour scheme of my magazine also helps attract my audience as there are many bold colours which stand out as I also want my magazine to not just blend in with other competing magazines. The simplicity of my magazine also helps attract the target audience of my magazine, as the layout is quite simple as the text on the front cover for example is in a box shaped format and this helps to avoid confusion or clustered looking text which can put off the audience which is the opposite of what I am trying to achieve.
The use of a clear and easy to read masthead helps readers know what magazine they are reading and makes the name of the magazine easily recognisable which also helps reputation and publicity through such methods such as word of mouth, the cover lines also help add to attracting the audience as readers often look at the main cover line on a magazine to see what the top story is about, and also they tend to often look at other cover lines too to see what else the magazine contains. The main colour scheme of my music magazine is brown/black/red, so therefore whatever text is in red, will ultimately stand out more as the other text would be brown/black.
My magazine is also quite male oriented as often, hip hop/ rap music is a fairly male based genre and therefore when keeping to that theme of a male dominant magazine also helps attract the audience which are most likely to buy it. There wouldn’t be much point trying to attract all types of audiences as it would be difficult, instead I try to aim to address one main type of audience which will be more successful to attract them and therefore get them to purchase the product. The colour scheme can also relate to the male theme also as the colours black, brown, dark red aren’t often connotations of female based things, like happy feelings, love etc. Instead its quite strong colours and dark which is more male based. Of the males I have based my magazine to attract, the age also has been made to be attracted, as my magazine features many young people, this then would attract young aspiring people who relate to music and which will then further their relations to the magazine and make them tend to buy it.

Wednesday 6 March 2013

Q4: Who would be the audience for your media product?

Question 4: Who would be the audience for your media product?
For my magazine the audience would be fairly specific. The age I would want my audience to be would be around 15-20+, also the gender would mainly be male as female wouldn’t really relate to the genre of the magazine. Here is a box to show the social classes and the percentage of how much of the population is in each class.


 I would then think my magazine would be typically aimed at C1 and C2 as they can also relate to them rather than a class like AB which wouldn’t.
Some features in my magazine often attract to the age I have chosen for example the use of QR codes are something which teenagers can use and this makes them then feel involvement with the magazine and not just to view it then bin it. Also as a good majority of teenagers nowadays have smart phones, this can then also help to share the magazine and help it get well known.
Also the artists featured in my magazine are of a specific theme, and many young adults or teenagers are usually interested in more modern genres. The social habits of my audience should have an interest in music or rap as it can benefit them and then they will have more of a reason to purchase the media product.

Tuesday 5 March 2013

Q3: What kind of institution might distribute your magazine and why?

Question 3: What kind of institution might distribute your magazine and why?

    The institution I have chosen that will distribute my magazine is vibe media, the reason why I have chosen this company is that they would know best at how to distribute my specific genre chosen as they have been doing it for a numerous amount of years and therefore they will surely make my magazine successful when competing with other competitors, such as Vibe magazines and XXL. Although they distribute other magazines which can cause rivalry, they don’t in fact distribute any magazines in the UK and so with competition wise, there wouldn’t be much in the UK.


    I think this distributor is best suited as I want my magazine to have the best start in the industry as possible, and starting off with a well known company that has many ways of getting my magazine well known is a good start.

    Although I thought of doing IPC, I then realised it wouldn’t be best suited to do my magazine as they don’t distribute my genre which is hip-hop/rap.

Monday 4 March 2013

Q2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?




In Essay Form


How does your media product represent particular social groups?

    My media product does represent particular social groups in many ways; firstly the age it is targeted, my magazine is for the aspiring young teenager towards the mid aged average age, (roughly 15-25). The main representations of an average 18year old would be quite modern news which would be featured in the magazine, news which is based on current artists who would be considered in the charts. Teenagers are often associated with quite hectic things, so a plain layout of my magazine wouldn’t take much of a shine to particular social groups. The front cover of my magazine is made to catch the eye of the reader, and the colours, layouts and the cover overall is quite representational of certain social groups in my opinion. For the gender which my magazine is aimed at, it would most commonly be male based as that is a type of social group I think I have successfully represented, the main articles in my magazine are of male based content and the type of genre as a whole is mainly stereotypical male based, as it is hip-hop/rap genre. For the social class which I think I have represented, as my magazine is a weekly magazine and therefore would be fairly cheap when compared to a monthly magazine, it would be suitable for all classes, but mainly middle/working class. In my magazine front cover, the font types used are of an edgy style as they are kept fairly different to the main simple types of fonts used, also as my tag line used, is a fairly simple phrase which teenagers can catch on and also see how that’s used on the front cover. The tag line is: “reflecting your vibe” and there’s shown a reflection of the phrase which puts emphasis on the actual tag line itself. The connotations of my magazine are what similar to the social group I am representing, connotations such as…

  • Bold
  • Modern
  • Makes a statement
  • Unique

    These are similar qualities which 21st century teenagers (mainly male, as that is the gender my magazine is focused on) are often trying to be like or already are, which is why they will have the most to relate to this magazine, and therefore it will be of most interest to them too and also as the price would be fairly cheap (£2) this will widen the range of consumers willing to purchase my magazine.

    The costumes used in my magazine, do in fact relate to my type of magazine as they are wearing quite casual clothing which is how my social groups should be like and not made to dress up and to just look natural in their clothing so the audience can see their style of clothing and if it relates to them which it should, then the targeted social groups can relate to this, furthermore encouraging them to buy the magazine. The facial expressions of the people used in my magazine are also made to fit the theme of the magazine as the facial expressions are often quite serious, as hip-hop/rap enthusiasts are often quite serious people too and again, this can relate to the specific social groups.

Sunday 3 March 2013

Q1: in what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?



Essay form

Question1: in what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
When making a music magazine, it is vital to have the typical conventions of a music magazine. The likeliness of it having the same features of a music magazine, will often determine the success of the magazine, as the more it looks and feels like a real music magazine is the more people will think its genuine and is worth competing with the well known music magazine on the shelves in the major shops.
My magazine has many conventions of a real music magazine. Firstly, I have tried to make the theme of the magazine as similar to a hip-hop/rap magazine as possible as it has maintained consistent throughout the magazine and doesn’t change that drastically. However I haven’t tried to make my magazine as similar to every other similar genre of my magazine, I have tried to make it as unique as possible so it would then therefore have a unique selling point.
Here is a screenshot of the front cover of my music magazine, from the front page you can see some typical stereo type features on the front in the image for example the hood is up, you can see a microphone. The facial expressions are very serious throughout my magazine too. This would be a typical convention of a rap magazine, as it wouldn’t be the happiest of artists who feature in it. On the front cover page, you can see many things you would normally see in a music magazine, for example, the date it was issued at, the price of the magazine and the barcode on the front which would be used to scan at the shops, In my magazine, when making it, I actually used a real custom barcode for my magazine and a real QR code which you could scan them and it would actually work.
 The sell line included in my magazine also relate to conventions of real magazines as they usually feature big bold mastheads and sell lines too which I have included in mine too. For images I used in my magazine, often typical conventions feature a woman which would be said to be seen in a sexual way which would be used to attract certain audiences, in my magazine, I have chosen to go to the opposite approach as although sexually explicit images can often attract males, it would attract them enough to buy the magazine rather than just viewing them. So therefore males are more likely to buy an image if it contains images of artists which they can relate to so I used that convention of my magazine as an alternative.

Friday 1 February 2013

1st Feb 2013

Today, I changed the layout of my contents page as i saw an existing kerrang contents page and thought the half and half would best suit it.

Friday 25 January 2013

Photoshoot

Photoshoot
Today i took the photos for my magazine, i wanted a distinct look so when i was taking the images, i told the people in my photoshoot to be in certain places with certain facial expressions, as this all adds to the vibe of my magazine and the certain amosphere it creates to the audience.