Ryan TownsendMedia Studies AS: Foundation

Portfolio

Introduction The project that I produced is a front

cover, contents page and a double page article spread for a new music magazine. I created all elements of my magazine, including taking all of the pictures and writing the article.

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

The front cover uses strap

lines to try and ‘sell’ the magazine through the artists featured. It also has one main image, which uses direct address in order to interest the reader and make them want to buy the magazine.

I created a magazine in the genre of alternative rock. I have used a number of conventions of a successful magazine particularly on the front cover.

In What ways does your media product use , develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? The common colour scheme for a

rock magazine is red and white, to show that this magazine is an alternative rock magazine I used a different colour scheme with some element of the typical red and black. Another magazine that focuses on more alternative rock music is Kerrang!, which does use elements of red and white, but the most dominant colours are yellow and black, like my magazine.

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

90% of people I asked think that this magazine is an alternative rock magazine. When asked what showed this, the general response was that the colour scheme represents the alternative rock genre. I feel this response shows my magazine effectively shows the intended genre.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The main group I have represented is people who listen to/ are involved in alternative rock music.

The costume in all of my images fits with the dominant image of alternative rock artists, with all images containing someone wearing dark and moody clothes.

The artists in all of my images are all, unhappy/moody also conveying then general and dominant image of people involved in alternative rock, that they are quite unhappy. I have graded most of my images to create a darker image.

This portrays the dominant theme in alternative rock artists as it helps to convey and support the dark and moody image that alternative rock artists tend to display.

I have represented this group in this manner in order to relate with the general target audience as most people who will buy the magazine will follow the style and image of the featured artists.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

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

 The most notable institution that would likely be interested in publishing my product is the publishers of Kerrang! Magazine, a German company called Bauer Media Group which has connections with EMAP a media company based in London, an ideal company to produce my magazine.

EMAP have produced a number of magazines including ‘Smash Hits’ which ran from 1978 to 2006, and also published ‘Mojo’ magazine until 2008 which then became published by Bauer media Group, the company already has a lot of experience in the music magazine industry and may be open to a new magazine.

Bauer Media Group itself may be interested in the magazine as they currently produce two music magazines, Kerrang! and Q both very popular indie/alternative rock music.

IPC media group, who publish NME magazine, a magazine similar to mine which focuses more on indie rock but does have elements of alternative rock, may be interested as the Bauer Media Group currently dominate music magazines.

In addition to this Classic Rock magazine has taken over NME in circulation figures meaning the company could be interested in a new magazine with a fresh take to try and raise circulation figures again.

 

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

Who would be the audience for your media product? The target audience for my magazine are

western males between 16 and 25, with a socio-economic status of C1-D, particularly fans of alternative rock music.

This is a good target audience for my magazine as most fans of alternative rock music fall

between this age range. I performed a questionnaire early in the research stage, I found that most people aged between 16 and 25 like alternative rock music. Most people over this age tend not to like alternative rock music.

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In addition to this of the people asked more males were interested in alternative rock music than females, which is why I am aiming primarily at men.

This type of magazine is open to a wide range of people, many people outside of the target audience do like and listen to alternative rock music and may be interested in the magazine and artists featured.

When looking at the audience feedback, the product gained a positive reaction from my target audience with most being interested in the magazine.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

How did you attract/ address your audience? The choice of title I feel is successful in

attracting the audience, it is quite striking and tells the audience exactly what to expect from the magazine with the ‘new niche north west music’ written next to the magazine name helping to explain what it is.

I also feel that the colour scheme and the image on the front cover attract the reader’s attention, with the image using direct address, connecting with the possible readers, the colour scheme is bright and stands out to anyone passing the magazine.

The text is also very prominent to anyone passing by who is interested in the artists and the stories, all of the headlines are eye catching and the strap lines are quite large print, which are also obvious to the reader.

I feel that the layout of the article would be quite appealing for a reader; the text is not too complicated and is laid out in a manner that is quite easy to the eye and easy to read.

How did you attract/ address your audience?

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What have you learnt about the technologies from the process of constructing this product? I found the technologies I used to make my

magazine very helpful and useful, these technologies, such as Photoshop, meant that even though there were a couple of minor errors in my images, I was able to edit them and improve them, making them more professional.

The use of a blog has helped me to keep organised with tasks I had to perform and when I needed to do them.

Using In Design also helped me to create and format the magazine easily, making it look more professional and stylised.

The internet has been a big help for research and also for producing graphs in order to analyse audience feedback. One website in particular, which creates graphs quickly and easily, means I can look at the reader’s response to my magazine and find the most common results in order to see what is good about the magazine and what might need improvement.

I found that the cameras that we used in order to take my images were very easy and helpful, allowing me to view images after I had taken them.

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

Reflecting on the preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? I feel that I have learnt a lot since the

preliminary task. Firstly I have learnt how to take a good image and the importance of taking the right image.

On two of my images something needed to be edited in order them to look right, because of this I had to spend a lot of time editing the pictures in order to get the style and quality of image I wanted.

If I had taken more time when taking the pictures, being a bit more careful I would have not had to spend time editing them being able to focus more time on the product itself.

Reflecting on the preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

I feel that since the preliminary task I have improved my perception of the colour scheme and how to make it effective and successful.

In the preliminary task I felt that I had used too many colours that did not look effective together and made it look dull and uninteresting.

However for my final product I feel that I have made a dynamic front cover with an interesting colour scheme that will entice the audience.

Reflecting on the preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

I also feel that I have learnt a lot about the layout of a magazine and the importance of an effective layout.

I feel that the layout I used in my preliminary task was quite weak and unprofessional in comparison to my final product. When asked about the layout people reviewing my final product, all said the layout

looked professional and interesting. All of these elements that I feel I have improved on have been a progression and happened whilst making my final product.

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Conclusion In conclusion I feel that my final product is

successful with layout of the whole product is particularly strong and looks professional.

I feel that the main weakness in my project is the consistency in the images is not very present. I feel that the images on the contents page are not as good as those on the other pages which look very strong.

I particularly think that the front cover image and the main image in the article are both very effective.

I also feel that the article was very successful and professional, feeling like a real article from a magazine and something I very much enjoyed writing.