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

Since creating my college magazine, my knowledge of the media industry has increased. For example, I now know what sort of magazines certain groups of people would buy. I know what sort of images sell well and what people want to read about in magazines, for example, gossip is typically one of the mist popular things that my target audience would want to read about in a music magazine because they idolise famous artists, they want to know what they are doing and what sort of people they are so that they can try to be like them. I also know how to relate to my audience much better than I did when I was doing my preliminary task because I looked into what they found interesting. I did this by asking a typical 17 year old female what sort of things she would expect to find in a magazine.

I feel as if I have also learnt a lot more about the layout of my magazine. In my preliminary task, I had writing either side of the picture whereas on my music magazine cover, I chose to have the writing to the left hand side of the image because I think this looks more like a real magazine. I also asked my typical audience what they thought of the positioning of the writing compared to my college magazine and the responses were good, so I left the writing where it was. I think it makes the magazine look more mature and professional.

Since my preliminary task, I have also learnt that black is a good background colour to have, when creating my college magazine, I thought that if I used a black background, then my magazine would automatically be aimed at a certain group of people known as the 'emo' type but after looking through the pictures that I took for my cover and trying a few images with dark backgrounds, I realised that when mixed with the right colours, black doesn't look 'emo'. I think that it goes well when its behind my chosen colours, pink and white.

I have also learnt a lot in terms of manipulating images. I didn't use photoshop to edit any of my images but I have had to re-size them in order for them to fit on to my front cover properly. I learnt that some of the images wouldn't fit onto my front cover because when I tried to re-size them, they made my models face look either really long and strectched or fat. Because my front cover image takes up the whole page, I have manipulated it by putting writing across the top (title) and writing down the side and a bar code at the bottom. This is classed as manipulating because the image is no longer just of a person, its not an image of a magazine cover.

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

The typical audience for my media product would be young females ages 15 - 22. When I was prodicing my media product, my design and layout and contents of the magazine was aimed at young female adults because they are the most likely to be interested in R&B music. I took great care to insure that my magazine still appealed to my target audience everytime I changed it. I did this by printing off copies of the magazine and showing them to a typical 17 year old female, and asking for her opinion. Once I'd shown the magazine to her, I then asked if this would appeal to her if she saw it in a shop. The replies were usually 'YES!' They all liked the colours and the layout and they also loved the images that had been put on the cover and in the magazine, they said they looked professional but at the same time very casual and fun. This was good feedback for me as it meant I could keep the cover and inside roughly the same as I had planned. Being a young female myself, I was constantly asking myself when making the magazine if it appealed to me and the majority of the time, it did.

My typical audience is young females. They usually take great pride in what they look like, spend quite some time on hair and make up because it's important to them to look good all the time. The magazine appeals to this audience because the images that I have used for my product are of someone who is of that typical audience. They are usually found wearing very nice clothes, their hair has been done properly and their make up is perfect. My magazine appeals to them because they aspire to be like those famous R&B artists who look good all the time and live the life of a celebrity.



6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing your product?

The computer that I used to produce the majority of my magazine was an intel computer. I used a memory stick to transfer work that I had done at college to home so that it could be finished and also so that I could put the images that I had taken onto the collge computers from my camera.

I learnt how to create a blog using 'Blogger.com' and how to edit and create new posts.

I also learnt how to use Microsoft publisher to create my double page spread because at first, it was two separate pages.

Overall, I have learnt how to do a few more things that I could before and can now use a few more programmes on the computer. I also used photoshop to edit some of the images but I could already use that before hand.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

I addressed my target audience by constantly asking what their opinions were regarding my magazine throughout it's production. I showed them the drafts that I made, the pictures that I took and the different ideas for the name of my magazine. I think that because my magazine is aimed at that audience that their opinion matters and I valued it a lot when it came to making the final versions of my music magazine. I attracted them by putting someone roughly the same age as them on the cover in the hope that they would look upto her and want to be like her or become friends with her. When I asked them if she would be classed as an icon, the majority of them said she would because she's attractive, young and looks like she's someone you could have fun with.

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

I think that Intermedia Partners would be best to distribute my magazines because it already distributes 'Vibe' magazine which is aimed at a similar audience as my magazine. Vibe has a circulation of approximately 800,000. The fact that Intermedia partners already distributes well known music magazines, shows that they have experience and are good at selling products like my magazine.

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

To the left is one of the pictures that I took and next to that is one of Jessie J, a famous R&B artist that I got from the internet. I've chosen to show both these images so that I can show how my magazine represents particular social groups.

The poses of both images are very similar. They both have their hands away from their sides, either on their hips or just behind their hips. Both females are wearing similar outfits, both black and tight fitting. Their hair is also very alike in the sense that they both have dark hair and fringes that cover their foreheads and finish just past their eyebrows. The backgrounds are also similar. The image that I took was in a bathroom and my artist was stood in the actual bath, whereas I'm not quite sure where the other picture was taken but, they both have tiles in the background and the lighting is slightly darker on one side in both images. Overall I think that these elements of the photos represent a normal young social group and that my magazine reflects this throughout – the person featured in my magazine looks normal but in a more interesting way compared to any other normal person which is why young females would aspire to be like my artists, so that they could stand out and be unique.



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

1- Mis-en-scene of images
I think the mis-en-scene of my images follow the codes and conventions of magazines. This is because I used different settings as backgrounds so all the images didn't look the same. they varied from a garage door, to outdoors in a field and just a room inside. I think these backgrounds fit in well with the genre of my magazine. In addition to this, the majority of my images follow the conventions of magazines by displaying the artist as happy, fun, sexy and interesting at the same time. I deliberately took the pictures so that they weren't all the same poses because I want them to all be unique.

2- Costumes and Props
The costumes and props used throughout “FRESH” are conventional. This is because the artist in my magazine wore outfits and make up that you would see in other magazines. All the outfits were fashionable and mostly black because it looked good against the white background of the garage door and the double page spread background as they are both plain white. There wasn't any props used in the pictures that I took because I didnt want them to be too busy and R&B artists aren't usually seen with guitars or instruments in their hands so it didn't seem appropriate for me to use those props. I took inspiration for the outfits from images that I found on the internet of people who are often shown in magazines. I sed Fearne Cotton as my main inspiration because she always looks really good, even when wearing simple attire like the picture below. I tried to match this look by asking my artist to wear just a denim shirt with a t shirt. This is a very simple look and the T-shirt that was worn had the words 'I <3 LONDON' written on it so it seemed appropriate because in my double page spread, it says I interviewed the artist when she was in London. 

3 – People
The artist featured in my magazine is quite unconventional. This is because she's quite young and not as extreme or obscure in her appearance as some artists featured in R&B magazines. Most R&B artists are male. There are quite a few females but the majority are male but because my target audience for my magazine is young females, I thought if I used a young female artist, this would appeal to them more. By featuring a girl as the main story and artist of my magazine, the audience will be able to relate and aspire to be like them; the target audience are more likely to be interested in a teenage artist than a middle-aged boring artist. However, I think the person I have used for my magazine bares some resemblance to Rihanna because of the matching hair styles but this proves that famous artists can have an impact on their audience in many ways so my artist will appeal to the target audience very well.

4- Written Content
The written content of my magazine follows the codes and conventions of a real music magazine by covering similar topics in the questions. For example, it asks about how they started off in the music industry, who their favourite artists are, their inspiration, their new songs and videos, what their new album is about, touring experiences etc. All of these topics could be found in a real music magazine aimed at teenagers and young adults. In addition to this, the standfirst follows conventions by introducing the artist at the start of the interview.

5 – Layout
The layout of my magazine is mainly conventional. This is highlighted on the double page spread which displays an interview in columns beneath a standfirst and title. In addition to this, the photos are arranged neatly with quotes dotted on the page. As well as this, my front cover follows layout conventions by having the masthead at the top of the page, a list of bands down the right-hand side and a main headline across the middle.

Finished Everything!

Final Cover!

I changed quite alot to make my final cover for my music magazine. I have edited the bar code at the bottom of the cover so that its not copyrighted and to make it my own. I edited numbers and letters so that it was unique. I decided to use one image for the whole of the cover as opposed to a two toned background gradient.

For the image on my cover, I was going to use a picture of my model face on but I decided that this image looked much more casual and fun so it was the best one for my magazie cover because I wanted it to be casual.


I am happy with my finished cover. I like the colours, the layout and the image.

Final Contents page!

For my final contents page, I changed the colour of some of the writing because you couldn't see it properly on the black backgroundand I think having some of the writing in white as well as black looks better anyway. I like the layout I've used, the way the images overlap looks good in my opinion. They give you an idea of what or who the magazine is mainly about.

I've made sure that the amount of pages in my magazine is divisible by four because they are double page spreads and double sided so the magazine will have to be divisible by four so it uncludes the front cover and the back as well.

I have also included fashion pages in my magazine because my typical audience is also interested in fashion and that would make them want to buy this magazine more.

Final Double Page Spread!

I had to add in a page number that matched the contents page so that it looked like a real magazine. I also moved some of the pictures slightly so that they were all in line with each other and the writing.

I think my double page spread looks very professional because of the colours and the layout. I'm very proud of my imges that I have taken, they haven't been edited at all and I still think they look amazing! I made the writing slightly smaller than it was originally so that I could fit more writing onto the pages.

I am pleased with my overall product. I think it looks a lot more professional than I thought it would in the end. I am happy with all the colours and layouts of every page. If I had to do this again, the only thing that I think I would change would probably be the amount of time I spent on each page. I think I should have spent a little less time on the contents and front cover because they took me the longest out of all but I am pleased with the final product.