Qu3) - What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

I personally think that Bauer media would be the most suitable media institution to distribute my media product. Bauer covers magazines such as Q, Heat, Kiss 100, MOJO, Empire and many more successful magazines. I think that my magazine would be suitable for Bauer because I have a targeted audience but one that expands to a wider audience, therefore would be successful in them market. Bauer Media itself is a division of the Bauer Media Group, Europe’s largest privately owned publishing Group. The Group is a worldwide media empire offering over 300 magazines in 15 countries, as well as online, TV and radio stations. Bauer Media joined the Bauer Media Group in January 2008 following acquisition of Emap plc’s consumer and specialist magazines, radio, TV, online and digital businesses. Collectively, the Group employs some 6,400 people. Bauer Media is a multi-platform UK-based media Group consisting of many companies collected around two main divisions – Magazines and Radio - widely recognised and rewarded as being industry innovators. As you can clearly see my magazine would fit perfectly into this insitiution.

Qu4) Who would be the audience for your media product?

As I have previously stated my target audience is teenagers and young adults that have grown up in neglected and deprived areas and who have had difficult lives. As you may know the percentage of people like this is considerately low so therefore I opened the audience up by integrating a broader type of rap and interest. This therefore opens the target audience to a larger scale. This makes the magazine more popular and more successful. As you may know my chosen genre of my magazine is rap, hip hop and grime. This type and genre of music is preferred and favoured by males, so therefore the majority of my target audience is males. The percentage is 90% males and 10% females. Considering the type of genre the average age is going to be from 14-28. now to describe a little bit about my target audience as a whole, they enjoy wearing clothing brands such as Adidas and Nike, however I have also seen a lot of them tend to wear Louis Vuitton and Gucci accessories. This is because the items from Louis Vuitton and Gucci are extremely expensive and are considered to be the finest and most prestigious designer brands in the world. They like to shop in stores such as JD, Selfridges, Footlocker, Ralph Lauren and other branded shops, I would also add that they spend a fair amount of their income on branded clothes. They hang around the streets socialising with friends, they also play video games such as Call of Duty and mainly FIFA. The use technology such as the Play station 3 or Xbox, the types of mobile phones varies from Sony Erickson to Blackberries to the IPhone. When placing them into a socio economic group I would most likely place them in categories E and D wither have no job or are unskilled workers. This is because they have been brought up in a neglected area and have not and a positive childhood.

The video below shows what kind of place my target audience grow up and live in, and also what they do and are stereotyped as.

Qu5) How did you attract/address your audience?

When attracting my audience I used techniques such as a bold and dominant masthead that stands out well and has a professional look to it, on the same element I used interesting and outstanding font throughout my magazine, this attracts the audience because they will instantly see that my magazine offers not only interesting information but a lively and colourful background. I also feel that the language I use makes the magazine more audience friendly and relates to the language they themselves use, the mode of address is also a key feature, it is one that again my audience can relate to and will feel comfortable with. The contents of the magazine also help sell and attract the magazine to the audience, I specifically put in content that my target audience can enjoy and relate to, content such as rappers and hip hop artists and concert information, this will help the magazine grow in popularity. Images are also key when it comes to attracting an audience. I used a variety of images on my contents page displaying different models within the magazine. However on my front over and double page spread I used one main, bold, outstanding and prominent image per page. This in my opinion will attract the audience more than loads of images. If the image is bold and significant they will then want to know who or what the image is about. when making the magazine I knew that I was going to aim the magazine at male readers. So I therefore had to create a male dominant layout and general background. I portrayed this by using colours that are generally associated with males such as red, black, grey and white. This then singles out male readers and lets them know that the magazine is aimed towards them. The content I used was also aimed towards males. However it could be read by females also.

When I displayed my pages to my class (audience) they commented back with some positive comments and other comments which suggested areas of improvement. I feel that I have addressed these faults and improved them thoroughly. For example I have completely changed the contents page to make it look more professional. I have imitated NME’s contents layout. This then allowed me to produce and display more on my page, making the page more attractive, enjoyable and professional.

E.G.

Qu6) What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Throughout this project I have learnt vast amounts not only about magazines and how much effort is put into making them but the technologies used when constructing the product. These products at first were in my opinion hard to use, simply because there was so much to learn about them and there various uses. However after a few times of using the programmes I eventually got used to using them and I feel that I have fully used them to their full potential and have used them to make my magazine look the best it could be and the most realistic it could be. The programmes I used were In-design, Photoshop, animoto, blogger. Each of these programmes were new to me so I had to use them a few times before I got the hang of them. In-design and photoshop were both used to produce my front cover, contents page and my double page spread. Each of these programmes enables you to not only edit but also create a whole different image. I used photoshop to sharpen up my images and add different effects to them such as black and white. This helped me create a more realistic effect and also helped me relate to my target audience, therefore connecting the magazine and the audience together. This helps to sell the magazine and makes it more welcoming to not only my target audience but a variety of audiences. When adding the finishing touches to my project I felt I wanted to add something else to give it more of a emotional ending, so I therefore created a vide, using the website ‘Animoto’ this is a website in which you can create videos of what you want. So I then added photos that relate to my genre and target audience and then added some music that I felt fitted the video.

Qu7) Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

When I first started working on my preliminary task I had a lot to learn about making my chosen product. There were lots of things I had to learn about magazines as a whole. So I researched into them in-depth so I could make mine look realistic and at the same time attractive. I did this by looking at other college magazines and conventions and then implemented them into my own magazine. After completing my preliminary task I felt I was happy with my first ever attempt at a magazine cover. I felt I used the correct colour coding and also used the right and most compelling content. For example I used academic content as well as sport and musical content. I think this opens the target audience barrier to all types of students. I then moved onto my main task. I had to put all of my learning from the preliminary task in to making the it the best I could, I also learned more about creating front covers, contents pages and double page spreads as I went along, so could therefore add it to my project. I think that the change from creating a college magazine front cover to a music magazine opened up a wider barrier for creativeness. This is because music as a whole is massive. There are vast amounts of genres, artists and much more. This allows you to choose one and to get accustomed to it. You then have a preference and know a lot about the genre and what it sounds like and who is good at producing it and most importantly for this project, who likes it. So when starting to create ideas for my own magazine I choose a genre that was liked by a large audience, opening lots of ideas to implement into my magazine. I feel that because of this I progressed vastly from carrying out my preliminary task. I have not only enhanced my knowledge but I feel that I used the right codes and conventions of my chosen genre and magazine styles themselves. I also feel that I have progressed my knowledge in using the different programmes I needed to create my magazine and have used them to their fullest potential.