Magazine

In What ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

My style model for my magazine was Vibe magazine, in particular this one with T.I. on the front, I thought that this would be a good one to have as a style model because it is original and effective in portraying to the reader who is on the front the magazine and what else there is too read about inside. The font that I used was quite boxy because it means it Is easy to read and would stand out amongst other magazines, the name of the magazine is JOI because it is just one word and is easy to remember, I think this relates too many dif

ferent magazines as well as Vibe like Q magazine or NME which are all short names which are easy to remember. The main image on the front is black and white on my style model which looked very effective however on all of the other vibe magazine front covers they had colour images on the front. Therefore I decided to make the main image’s face dimmer so it doesn’t stand out on the black and white suit and the white background however have kept the image in colour. The positioning of the image on the front cover is central to show what the main focus of the magazine is, in the contents page the image runs up the left hand side and all the text on the right hand side including the big title. In my dps the codes and conventions were similar to a lot of Vibe double paged spreads in the way that the whole of one page was taken up by an image and the other page was four columns of text withy a smaller image in the center. The colour scheme for the front cover was black red and white which are all simple colours so I decided to use them on my magazine, the rest of the magazine was mainly white background with either cool blues or reds to give the page a relaxed feel. The contents page on my style model had a gradient where the lighter part was over the image to give a spotlight effect over the person so I tried to replicate that on my contents page. In regards to the language used I tried to make it fairly formal with some young adult terminology to keep it young and attract the younger audience. I had a different variety of fonts in my magazine so that it didn’t seem boring and tedious reading through it, I made sure the main title of the magazine (JOI) was the biggest piece of text in my magazine and then the main article advertised on the front and on the DPS was written in a straight forward, big font.

How does your magazine represent different social groups?

Age- The magazine seems to be aimed at approximately 18 to 30 year olds. It shows a young musician trying to make a name for himself in an unfamiliar place. Also shows how fame might have an effect on teens. My target audience is young adults so it has to attract them to my

magazine. The picture is of a person who would be a typical target audience of my magazine

Ethnic Minority groups- He’s from LA but moved to Newcastle so is around people from a different county and is from a different cultural background.

Sexuality- It’s aimed at any sexuality; there are no examples of it being aimed at one particular sexual orientation.

Class and Status- shows that he has made a bit of money and is happy about that but doesn’t like to boast or show off about it which is a positive view of upper class people.

Gender- It only focuses’ on a boy however does not give stereotypical representations of boys or the way that they talk about girls. He doesn’t mention women in the whole of the article.

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

I think that the main marketing tool for my magazine would be networking sites such as facebook or msn messenger because there are so many people who would fit my target audience on these sites, I could

put the advert on a side bar or in a little pop up box on the websites. Also youtube would be a good place to advertise my magazine. In terms of distributing my magazine I think the best way would be to do it within Britain, start off in the main cities around Britain making the magazine very cheap or even free for the first few months and then increase the price if they go well. I think the media institution that would distribute my magazine would be Intermedia Partners because I think they would be interested in my magazine as it would appeal to them. Intermedia Partners are the publisher of the magazine Vibe which was my style model for the whole magazine so it would definitely fit the needs of the institution.

Who would be the audience for your magazine?

How did you attract/address your audience?

I catered for my audiences needs by doing audience research, and getting feedback from my rough cuts. Adapted my magazine around the comments I got in the questionnaire and the feedback I received on the magazines rough cut.

I think the image on my contents page is what my audience would be most attracted to because there was a gradient on the page and the brightest bit was situated around the image, which made it stand out. I think this is a good thing because the image was something to do with the main article which will want people to read more about it.
On the front cover I have catered for the audiences by having a basic red and black colour scheme and a black and white image which makes it seem stylish and professional.

The language in my double paged spread is quite sophisticated which appeals to a more educated or maybe an older audience however there are some slang and words associated with the younger generation which means it is aimed at a mixed audience, older than 15 but probably not as old as 40.

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

Photos: Learned how to get the lighting correct on close up images. Get a white sheet behind and reflect the light on it

How to get the main object of the picture in to focus by adjusting the zoom and lightly pressing the button before taking the picture.

How to adjust the camera depending on the type of shot I’m taking

Editing: Adjusting the brightness and contrast settings of an image to make it look more professional

Using the spot healing brush or the clone stamp to get rid of any unwanted spots etc on my models

Cutting out the image properly and adding it to a different background to make it look like it is supposed to be there rather than just stuck on.

Using my layers effectively so that my magazine looks professional and easy to read.

How to enlarge images without making them look stretched or out of proportion.

Audacity: Using audacity to make this video, how to edit bits out etc.

School Magazine: Learned how to frame a mid shot properly.

How important the right image is for a magazine, it must look professional, the image must not be blurry and the lighting on the photo must not be too bright or too dim.

Getting the correct font and placing it correctly on the page. I decided to use my particular font because it was easy to read and was also quite stylish

The school magazine showed me how to adapt my magazine depending on the target audience.

I learnt how to manage my time properly from the school magazine; how much time I would need for each section and I made sure I would not spend too much time on one thing (e.g. Font) and then not enough time on another thing.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

I learnt how to edit my photos properly so they look like they are meant to be there. I also learnt that I need to put the right font in the correct places because otherwise it will look unprofessional and tacky. One of the most important things that I learnt from my preliminary task is to use the right colour schemes so that none of the colours clash together and make it hard to read.