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

I have learnt a great deal about technologies from constructing my music magazine, as at the start I was very unsure about how to use Photoshop therefore on my school magazine stuck with the very basic tools and didn't go any further. Having had the opportunity to go to a Photoshop workshop I learnt how to do things I had no idea you could do on a program on the computer, for example completely distorting somebodies face/body, making fonts stand out with special effects and merging pictures together. After my tutorial at the workshop I felt much more comfortable using the complex program and started fiddling around with all the different tools and effects to see what they did. I feel more confident with layering things, adding effects like 'outer glow' 'inner glow' and 'strokes', merging images together, using the magic wand tool to outline an image and crop it so its the right size and doesn't contain any empty space and just generally arranging images and text together. All of which helped me greatly in the construction of my magazine.
I have also learnt how to blog effectively, at the start I wasn't too sure how to do it but after awhile I got the hang of it, and now find it a very useful skill to have as I can now create a blog for my own purpose.
Everyone knows how to use a camera but I found that my skills were challenged when I went to take photos for my feature as I had to think really hard about the type of shots I wanted and had to think how to frame them effectively. I had to make sure that the correct mise en scene represented DJing well, for example I had to make sure that the DJ decks were in the shot to correspond with the text and have him looking at the camera so we get to see what he actually looks like.

How did you attract/address your audience?

To help me in the process of attracting and addressing my audience, the readership survey (below) helped me greatly in understanding what this specific target audience want to read about; therefore I took on their feedback and constructed my magazine.
The front cover is the page that has to be the most effective as this is the first thing your audience sees; therefore it has to look effective and different. The primary image attracts the audience as he is a 17 year old male himself which is my average target audience age; therefore the audience can relate to him. He is drumming and looks focused on it, this was one piece of criteria that was revealed in my readership survey. They are interested in new and upcoming bands and the creativity of drummers.
I choose the colour pink for my masthead as it matches with the drums, this may be a risk as pink is usually a feminine colour; therefore turning some males off, but NME used pink headings for one of their issues and it was a great success. I thought that the title 'noise' would be appropriate and appeal to my target audience as the reader can straight away tell that this is going to be a music magazine and 16-19 year olds like noisy music. Noise also can be considered as 'information' which my magazine is trying to give out about new drummers and music. I choose to use the colour scheme of pink and green. Firstly all the sell lines were in pink and I asked a friend (17 year old male) what he thought and he said it looked quite 'feminine' which wasn't my intended audience; therefore I made some of the sell lines green and kept some pink giving it a more masculine appeal.
From the feedback I found out that my audience are very interested in who the top bands are, funny photos, new and upcoming bands and what happens at gigs that the public aren't allowed to attend. This helped me to generate my sell lines. As the survey revealed that the audience are particularly interested in the exclusive gigs I made sure that they had a chance to attend them, I chose to make the '100' stand out to show that they can actually attend them attracting the audience. For the mode of address I have chosen words like 'exclusive' and 'restricted' to show that my readers are lucky to find out about this information as it is selective so they must buy this magazine as they won't find this information anywhere else. To address my audience I have chosen the word 'hard' to describe 'Lucas Greenwood' and 'DJ Woody' as it is a word that my target audience commonly use to describe good/talented artists therefore they can relate to this word, the magazine and feel they are inclusive.
I added a price of £2.90 which I think is a good price for a monthly magazine, i also asked my target population of 16-19 year old males and they agreed with this. As this age group doesn't have a lot of money it seems a fair price.
For the contents page I continued on with the same colour scheme and house style to make the whole magazine coherent and assessable, I made the index big therefore it allows browsing of the magazine easier and the readers can flick to the pages which most interest them, this appeals to the audience as they can find things quicker and don't have to read the whole magazine as some bits may not interest them. I went with a DJing theme hence the images so that it relates to the feature.
For the feature I focused on DJing as I had covered all of the other criteria that was found from my readership survey, it is an interview with a top DJ in London. I included questions that my readers would want to know about i.e 'how he started' as they may be interested in starting DJing and don't know where to begin, this gives them a helping hand; therefore attracting them.
In conclusion I feel I have targeted my audience well with my magazine as there are things in it that are screaming out to the target audience to buy it, it enables the reader to get 'exclusive' access to the biggest gigs, shows the 'restricted' photos from the NME awards and an 'exclusive' interview with a well known DJ.

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

IPC media is one of the United Kingdoms leading consumer magazine and digital publishers. It was created in 1963 as International Publishing Company. They publish over 80 different magazines that are of various genres at attract all audiences. They publish NME music magazine which is the most similar to my music magazine; therefore making them a possibility for publishing my music magazine. As they specialise in different genres of music this would also be ideal as my magazine covers two main genres. It is also convenient as it is based in the United Kingdom therefore easily assessable.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

My target audience for my media product are males between the ages of 16 and 19 who have a particular interest in drumming (rock music), the genre of dub step and DJing. Males who are very enthusiastic about their music and keen to know what is new and upcoming. Aiming and targeting mainly at this group of people I'm sure it will also attract others who will feel inclusive by the choice of language used and also people who want to know more about these types of music. Older people who have a keen interest in the issues covered in the magazine may see it and think 'that looks interesting' therefore bringing in a larger reader profile. Younger people who aren't sure what type of music they like yet may also read it and if they see older people reading it may make them want to buy it to seem older and cooler. Females are not my target audience but if they like what they see i.e find the artist on the cover attractive they may also buy it. Even though it is mainly targeted at one social group it will also attract others.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My media product represents the social group of teenage boys (16-19) who are very into their music. The ones who are always listening to their Ipods on the bus, wearing jeans, T-shirts, a checkered shirt and vans. They are presented as talented, creative and slightly grungy. As my front cover shows there is a boy in the clothes described above; therefore the readers can feel inclusive with the dress codes and can relate to them as they are similar, this will also draw in more readers. By having the artist not looking at the camera shows that he is very interested in his music, talented as he has the skill to drum, creative as he would have had to make up a rhythm and grungy as he looks slightly messy and worn. It also represents them as stylish due to their modern dress codes, this is also reflected in the masthead as it has style and is slightly different to normal mastheads, making it edgy. The language and lexical codes used makes it represent this social group as stereotypical teenagers who like to make up words that are different, even though my magazine isn't aimed at all teenagers other teenagers may feel inclusive in this and also may want to read it even though they don't generally fit in with my target audiences dress sense and ideas increasing the reader profile.

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

My media product challenges the forms and conventions of real media products as my front cover has one primary image only, other music magazines have one main image and lots of other secondary images scattered around the page to show whats being featured in the magazine. I choose to stick to one image as it gets the central focus, by doing this it also makes it less cluttered and messy which is how other music magazines are presented. This way gives a clean and simple image. I choose to keep the text to the sides of the image so the image stands out and has nothing blocking its way, whereas most magazines have text at the center of the page, over the image. Once again this makes it look cluttered and messy; therefore I choose a different approach to make it presented in a different way. Most music magazine front covers have a close up shot of the band/artist so they draw you in to buy it as they are on the cover, however I have choose a long shot to show that the drumming aspect is more important as the artist is an upcoming drummer so not many people will know him. One of the biggest forms and conventions I have challenged is that magazines in general are constructed by a large group of people who all work on separate areas, however I have made this all on my own, images, texts and designs without the help of a large team of people.
I have also used and developed forms and conventions of real media products by having a primary image as the main focus, different text seizes making some stand out more than others, having a bar code which adds realism and making the price and date clear under the masthead. I have chosen to use a limited range of colours to add to the coherency of the page and throughout my magazine so that it all links together effectively especially using the same masthead on the contents page and feature. Similar to NME's masthead I have used a poignant colour which stands out so when you see it on a magazine rack it's easy to spot. I have developed the normal forms and conventions of a masthead by not having it in one colour to stand out from the background, instead I have made it the same colour as the background but made it have an 'outer glow' of pink instead which I feel makes it stand out more. I have used the same positioning for my masthead as it is on other music magazines; therefore using the forms and conventions of real media products also similar size making it stand out.
By doing all these things I have used, developed and challenged forms and conventions of real media products.

Audiance Feedback

I showed my semi-finalised version of my magazine to the art director of MOJO music magazine (Mark Wagstaff) who was impressed, he said that he liked the coherency and the way the colours worked well together. Using only three colours made it look similar to magazines on the market, it looks simple and uncluttered. He said that my front cover looked 'professional' and works well as a front cover to draw in the implied audience, he was very interested in the masthead as he said it was 'different' yet 'stylish'. As I had not completely finished my contents page when he looked at my magazine, U wasn't yet sure what I should do with some empty space; so I asked him for any advice. He suggested that I should move some of the images around, filling the space. We both agreed this looked better and made it look like more of a boys' magazine, which is my intended audience. In conclusion he said that it targeted my target audience very well, by the choice of colours, images and straplines.
I also decided to show my magazine to a good friend of mine who is a 17 year old male, who my magazine is aimed at. He liked the idea that a new upcoming drummer was on the front as he is very interested in drumming and would like to know more about it; therefore making him want to buy the magazine. He liked that it wasn't cluttered and it was easy to find the pages which you want to read about, He said it looked 'interesting' and 'worth the price' he also said that the straplines are 'worth reading' and liked that my feature was on a DJ artist as he is very interested in how DJ's do what they do. In conclusion, he said that he would buy my magazine if he saw it on a magazine rack in the shop as it stands out and looks interesting; therefore targeting my target audience.

Magazine Feature - Final

After altering a few things I came to my final copy. I made the pictures stand out more by adding the special effect of 'stroke' and positioned the text so there wasn't any big chunks of white unused space. From my plan I wanted to include a 'pull quote' and place it in the middle of the right hand page in a big pink circle, but getting to this stage I realised I had no room left; therefore I placed it on top of some empty black space on the bottom photo, in a sort of 'bleed' effect. This ended up turning out perfect as it contributes to the 'house style' of having pink on black; therefore making it a consistent brand image. Finally I moved the images very slightly and then it was finished.
I feel that my feature would appeal to my target audience as it is all on DJing which is something that I found from the survey that they find very interesting, the images are very inviting and suggest that anyone can have a go at being a DJ. They also show what it's actually like to be DJing for a load of people, people can image what it's like but this feature actually shows you. The layout is effective as it is simple and uncluttered which the survey told me that they like and the colour scheme is coherent throughout the magazine. The questions used in the text are questions that people who are interested in DJing actually want to know i.e. 'When you first started getting interest in DJing, what did you start doing?' as they may be thinking 'I like DJing but I don't know how to get into the business' this interview helps you in doing that. I know this as a friend of mine has just started getting into DJing and I asked him what kind of questions he would like to know.

Magazine Feature - Step 3

After realising that the 'columns' made it look to cluttered which wouldn't appeal to the audience as from the survey I found that my target audience prefer it uncluttered; it had to be changed. The layout also had to be considered here so I separated out the text and added a few more pictures to keep to my simple and uncluttered theme. I added an image of what you can see from the DJ box which would appeal to the target audience as they get a special insight into what it's actually like to be a DJ as your not actually allowed in there. I also added an image of the dance floor area from the V.I.P section so the readers can get a feel to how it must feel being in there.

Magazine Feature - Step 2

After completing the first step I had to start thinking about were the text of my interview was going to be placed. I decided on the idea of 'columns' which is widely used for features as it is consistent and organised into readable blocks of text. I decided on keeping the text black to fit with the idea that the images are mainly black and white giving a classic, stylish and elegant look, suggesting the lifestyle of the people in the club. The questions are in bold so the difference can be easily established between the answer and the question and it also breaks up the text into easier chunks. I added two more pictures of the DJ in work also to break up the text and make it look like real features in magazines with lots of images.

Magazine Feature - Step 1

The final step in making my music magazine was to create the feature, from the survey I knew that it was going to be on DJing. Luckily for me my friend is good friends with one; therefore she took me along to meet him, interview him and take lots of photos of him in action. We went along to one of his busy DJing slots on Thursday night at Embassy nightclub in London, were he showed me what he does and I got to have a good chat with him. He seemed perfect for my feature and would definitely appeal to my target audience.
The construction was the next thing, I continued on with the 'house style' of having the same masthead from the front cover on the main pages and placed it like I did on the contents page in the top left hand corner. I also continued on with the same coherency and colour scheme throughout. I made the 'slug' black so it would stand out against the white background as this is one of the things that hooks the reader into the feature article. I knew from the planning stage that I wanted an inviting, fun and effective image of the DJ under the masthead; therefore I did this. I feel that this image would appeal to the target audience as he is pointing at the reader inviting them in to hear his story and suggesting that anyone can give it ago. In the final part of this step I put the DJ's name in a black box and his name in Pink to stand out, this also looks similar to the masthead; therefore following the 'house style'.

Magazine Feature - Planning

This is the planning for the feature of my music magazine on DJing. I positioned everything were I wanted it and allocated the right amount of space for my photos. I kept with the 'house style' of the masthead and made sure that was clearly in the top left hand corner like other magazines, as it creates a familiar, recognisable and consistent brand image. I made sure that the 'slug' was clear to hook the reader into the feature article and kept with the same coherency and colour scheme throughout the magazine. I wasn't yet sure what pictures were going to go where but I was certain the picture under the title was going to be a friendly, inviting picture of the artist in the feature. Whilst creating it I stuck with the general template of the plan but added another photo to the bottom and moved the 'pull quote' from the middle of the right hand page to the bottom on top of a photo as I realised there wasn't enough room for it.