•Create a professional looking product •To create the product following specific codes and conventions.•To use different techniques I will learn to create the product

In the making of my product I used the codes and conventions of existing music magazines to help make a professional product. I also used a key style model for each page which meant that I could use existing magazines and use ways that they have made their own products successful to make my own product successful.

Use: The reason that I will use ideas shown in existing media products is because I can see that they have been successful and that they will help me to make my own product become successful, these additions to my product will also make it look more professional.

Develop: The ideas that I will take forward from my style models and existing magazines and use in my own magazine will be “developed” to help them fit into the magazine. I will also develop those ideas to make the product look more professional.

Challenge: As well as using aspects of existing magazines I will also use my own ideas to make my product look unique and while however continuing to keep it looking professional and not drifting away from existing products.

By involving these within my product I feel it will help to make it look more professional. This I thought would help me through the project.

Examples of my style models

Slanted writing- Band name

Image OverlappingTitle, twice!

Barcode in bottom right corner

Other bands name

Text over laying the image on black banner

Bold title

Use of 3 colours.

Main image

Red- use Green- DevelopOrange- Challenge

Text on left hand side

Large title of magazineImages on

right

Website at the bottom

Bold title , bold on my product

Page number within image

Difference of description outside image

Large image

Text on right

Text at the top

Website

Text on image

Page number

Band name

In my music magazine sexuality is represented in different ways within the same person. The males are represented differently through out the magazine, an example of how it changes is shown in the contrast between the front cover and the double page spread for the subject who is wearing the greyish looking shirt. On the double page spread the person looks masculine as he at the top of the group, this may also be down to the pose of the subject at the front as he is in a very masculine pose. This is not the case on the front cover as he has his hand on the other band members shoulder which is a very feminine stance also in this picture the band members are very close together which again is not something that is very manly especially in a modern band, however it is a common feature of a modern Indie band.

Within my magazine age is represented through the use of youth. This is as all the models used were under the age of 20, this meant that they were within the target audience age themselves, this allows the reader to feel more comfortable and be able to relate more to the subjects. Through the use of different mise-en-scene such as the costume I was able to make the models who were used in my magazine look a lot older than they actually are, this helped my product look more professional as it is not usually school kids used in music magazines, especially magazines such as Q and NME which were style models of my magazines. I set the subjects in setting or in poses that would be seen in existing media products as this will help make the models look as though they have been doping this for a while. An example of this is the “gun” pose that the furthest forward model is doing on the double page spread, this is a masculine pose and something that would not be done by a younger person. This is similar to the images on the contents page.

The representation of Gender in my magazine is clear, as there are very clear differences between both gender within magazine through the use of mise-en-scene. On the contents page the image of the female receiving make up for a “photo shoot” is a key example of how the female gender is represented in my music magazine, they are in a typically feminine pose, something that is not the norm for women in a music magazine such as NME. On the double page spread the males are represented as a typical bunch of teenage lads who are just having a mess around, which is usually what you would expect to find in and Indie music magazine.

For the distribution of my product I would need to use a well renowned distributor as I feel this will give me a good opportunity to get my product to a wide audience. An example of a company that I would like to distribute my product is Worldwide Magazine Distribution Ltd, WWMD, the reason that I would use this specific distributor is due to the wide success achieved by existing media products that use this distributor. The reason that they have had such a great success is due to the fact that they put a lot of time into getting specific magazines to areas that it will have success. One way that I will advertise my product would be on the internet, this is because it allows me to spread the “word” in a very quick time and to a wide number of people, with the magazines website I can target the specific audience who regularly read my magazine. With the huge interest in social network sites such as Facebook and Twitter, advertising at the side will allow for a much wide target audience. I will aim my product to a mainly national audience as I feel they will enjoy the product more, however I will allow for my product to be sold in English speaking countries, this is because I feel that the language barrier could cause a lot of problems.

For my initial research I performed a questionnaire so I could decipher who would be the best target audience for my product. At the top of my questionnaire I asked the age and gender of the people answering it. I left my questionnaire out and informed people what type of magazine it was, so as to get as many people to answer that would be viable to be in my target audience. I wanted to keep the questionnaire fair and open to anyone who want to answer it as I wanted to get a wide variety of answer, to get a very clear idea of the correct target audience. After looking at my results I was able to see that my target audience was 16-24 year olds, this is because they will be able to relate to the models that are being used. predominantly male, this is due to the dark colour pattern, however the magazine will also be aimed towards women as I do not want to cut out a wide proportion of people who read music magazines. The product will be aimed towards the readers of magazine such as Q and NME, this is as I feel they will enjoy this type of magazine as I have model my own magazine on it. One way that I did this, like I pointed out earlier was to tell people what my magazine would be like before answering the questionnaire. I will also aim my product at people who watch music channels such as MTV.

“I think it looks more professional with the grey”

“The text is easier to read”

“The images used now are more professional”

“The text is easier to read on the double page spread”

“It looks a lot better without the blue background”

One way that I interacted with my audience to attract them to my product is the use of a light image and a bright background, this allows the product to stand out, which will allow it to catch the readers eye ahead of its competitors which will mean it should sell more copies. One way that I found out what my target audience wanted was to conduct a questionnaire, this allowed me to find out first hand what my target audience wanted form the magazine, however as you can see from my first draft the ideas they suggested did not always work. I tried to make the product as “normal” as possible for my target audience as this will make them feel more connected to the product, I did this by using models in the target audience range. Throughout the whole of my project I knew that I could get instant feedback from my teacher to help improve the without having to wait, I also knew that this would help.

During the double page spread I used a professional language so it keeps the interview professional, however I did use some slang terms so that the target audience could relate a lot more to the text, it also shows the youthfulness within the band again showing that they are relatable to the target audience. The overall message of my magazine is that it is a magazine that should be enjoyed by everyone who reads it, it is aimed at a younger generation and predominantly aimed at males.

Using the feedback I received from my target audience, from the video and during a showing to other members of the target audience. you can clearly see the changes that I made, I changed the title as people told me that they thought it didn’t stand out very well, after looking at it again I can see that changing it made a huge difference. I also changed the background colour which made my product look a lot more professional, it also allows it to stand out lot more. I also put a black banner behind the bands name, this was to make it stand out, again my target audience told me to make it stand out to draw their eyes to it. I changed the image used as the first image used was not a very professional quality photo, changing it helped me a lot. I also changed where I located pieces of text to create space and stop the picture from looking crammed.

For my contents page I changed the title of the page as it look very unprofessional and just looked like it was made in a word document, for this I used DaFont website to get a title that would fit in and look professional. I again changed the background colour as it stopped the text from standing out and it looked unprofessional. I removed the black line from the bottom as it didn’t fit in and looked unprofessional. I also retook the pictures for the page as the originals did not look professional. I also put more black lines into so I could clearly separate the images. I also made the text bolder so it could stand out more and allow the reader to see clearly what will be on each page.

Looking at the two images you can see the changes that I made using the feedback I received, One key change that I made was again the change of the background colour, again my target audience rightly thought that it made the product look more professional and it would allow the text to stand out more. I also removed the centre line, as you do not find them in existing magazines. I also used a more professional image to enhance the product. I moved what was the title further on to the image to make it a quote as well as changing the font, as the original looks unprofessional, using the bands name will catch the readers eye, especially if they enjoy this band.

As you can see I have developed my skills throughout the project, this began at my preliminary task as at this stage I had basic knowledge of the programs such as Blogger and Photoshop, this was also the case with the camera as I was still getting to use with the fundamentals of the settings and tips and tricks that can be used to gain a professional image, such as shutter speed and aperture. As I got into the first draft I was beginning to gain a greater understanding of what is needed to make a successful product technically, I was still chopping and changing to see if I could get something that would work well for my product. As you can see I stuck with the same colour as my first draft, at the time I felt that it might work, however I feel it didn’t, this was also the view of my target audience. Changing it made the product a lot more professional, this was backed up by the feedback I received. Below you can very clearly see the progress that I have made.