AS Foundation Portfolio: May 2010

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
At the beginning of my course in media I had analysed front covers, double page spreads and contents pages. I had assessed all the aspects that go into a magazine. For my magazine I had incorporated conventions that were similar. For example I used a central image along with puffs and anchorage text that emphasises the main feature article. I used a central image as this makes it looks professional. The image was a mid-shot which makes the audience feel closer to the artist. I also included puffs in columns to make it look neat but still stand out on the page. The anchorage text creates intention as it is very bold and striking because this I felt that this is very important in a magazine. As other magazines usually stick to a certain amount of colours I had also imitated this because I felt that adding to many colours would make the magazine look to childish and not for my target audience.
My title is very conspicuous yet simple as it is ‘BASE’ I felt that this goes very well with the genre of music that I had selected because Hip Hop[ and R’n’B have a base that makes the music good. I felt that this was also a way in which could also show that this is a Hip Hop magazine. My anchorage text was also a way in I could get people to buy my magazine. The storyline is very interesting as it is a brief biography of on of music’s favourite stars which are another convention I used from other magazines. I haven’t really challenged forms of other magazines as I feel I have mostly developed other magazines to make it that better. My feature article has a large image of Dee Dee on the left of the double page spread because it is very personal interview and I felt that I should make image the take up the page. The contents page has a lot of aspects to it as I made sure I had many images to show that I have a lot of things that go into my magazine. I wanted to use bright colours for my contents page to make it look fun. Other music magazines have been a big help because it showed me the vital things that should be in a decent magazine so people would buy it and it will be successful.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?
My magazine represents particular social groups as I wanted my magazine to aim at both male and females of the age range of 16-20 years old. My target audience had to be interested in Hip Hop and R’n’B as this was the genre for my magazine. Being that Hip Hop and R’n’B is highly popular among young people I thought that it was right to put a teenager on the front cover. On my front cover I have a picture of a 17 year old girl who looked relatable towards the audience as she represents the average teenager. I felt that this was important as I wanted my magazine to be designed to display the ups and downs of urban society. The feature article also backs this as it goes on about the struggles of young people including drugs. I felt that this was an important topic which surrounds the headlines in youth culture today; also Dee Dee discusses her body issue which is an ongoing topic of discussion around young women. I didn’t want the typical teenager on the front page as this will create a stereotype of what the magazine will contain. Dee Dee is more of the glamorous type which is not very common when it comes to Hip Hop magazines as I wanted to be different and show that this genre of music is not just male dominated. The stereotype is usually a black male rapper which I felt should be changed.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
I think that the most appropriate media institution that my magazine should be distributed by is IPC media. IPC media is a very large publishing company which distributes a mass amount of magazines every year. They have many different magazines that are not all niche although they do have NME magazine which goes into the rock genre but my magazine is in the Hip Hop genre. I am slightly concerned as IPC does not have any similar magazines to mine but I feel that my magazine would be just as successful as all the other magazines they distribute. If they did distribute my magazine that would show that they are trying to be wide-ranging.
Who would be the audience for your media product?The target audience for my magazine would be for male and female teenagers for age ranges 16-20 years old. The reason as to why I have chosen this particular age range is because I the magazine contains information such as the feature story with the issues with drugs and even body issues which is more for the older generation of young people. Young people of today are very much into magazines that are relatable and interesting to read which is why I chose a teenager to appear on the front of the magazine so that the audience may be surprised and intrigued that they are not the only people in the world that have issues. I felt that this wouldn't’t be appropriate for young people such as 11 years old because this could cause debate. The age range is more mature which I felt would allow me to include quiet controversial topics. When I did my questionnaire I found out that a lot of people are interested in the type of music I have selected and that they would purchase my magazine. Hip Hop and R’n’B is music is mostly from the black origin and heavily influenced by the black origin but it is also enjoyed by other races. My magazine is aimed at all ethnicity's as it has information that would interest all races as I didn't’t want to focus mainly on the black race as the young people of today had a broad interest in this genre of music.

How did you attract/address your audience?
One way that I had addressed the audience is by using a teenager for the front cover as she is similar age to the target audience so that means that they can relate. I felt that this is way that will make the audience by the magazine and continue to by each monthly magazine. Dee Dee is a young attractive teenager which that will attract young boys as is tall and pretty. Young girls will look at her and idolise her because of her beauty which will definitely intrigued her. As well as this I have very interesting headlines in my magazine that will engage the audience because it has stories about celebrities such as Beyonce who is a megastar and I find that this will get the audience to be interested in my magazine. I felt the presentation of my magazine is important because the look of the magazine will also get the audience to buy the magazine. I have used bright colours in my magazine as this will make the magazine look suitable for the target audience. I have used colours such as red which is an eye popping colour as well as using some yellow to make the magazine that much better.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
I have learnt a lot about the technologies that go into making a magazine. I was very excited about this course I was able to use Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator CS3. I enjoyed experimenting with pictures including changing the colours of the image and changing the background of the image. At first I found it quite difficult because I wasn't aware of how to use the Photoshop and illustrator but as the weeks begin it became so much easier. I made sure that I used all the tools that would make my magazine look good. I took pictures that would be able to Photoshop properly. As I started to play around with the tools I was able to adjust the brightness and well as the contrast to make it look bolder. For my magazine I had used illustrator CS3 for all three of them because I felt that this was the easiest out of the two to use. I made sure that my title blocks which I also created on illustrator fitted on the page. Adobe was a really big help because if they were not there I would have to paint which s very difficult to use because it would not look professional. I really enjoyed using these technologies to crop images and well as creating distinctive backgrounds.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
In order to make my magazine successful I was assigned a preliminary task which was to create a college magazine. The conventions in creating a college magazine and a contents page they were very basic. I wasn't’t aware of Adobe Photoshop and illustrator so I didn't’t use it in my magazine. I had used illustrator just a little bit o crop the image as well as adding the text to it. My college magazine was quite dull and not a magazine that I feel I would be up for purchase. However it was a big help because it made me understand how to incorporate different tools into making a good magazine. Due to my inexperience I had not really grasped the concept of colour as this is very important in a magazine. I had dull colours very few images and not very striking anchorage text. It was challenging to use but I still felt that I worked with illustrator very well which I thought I, might have struggled with. I am very pleases with my music magazine because I worked very hard on it compared to my college magazine. This also goes for my contents page which laced effort.
The audience is very important in this task because my magazine was based on their opinions. I found out that majority of the teens liked big anchorage text and bold colours which I felt I used productively into my magazine.

Audience Feedback

Audience feedback was very important with the creation of my magazine. I have taken into account all my customer's feedback because their opinions really count. In order to get customary feedback I made sure that I made polls to let the audience vote for things that they liked in my magazine. I created a poll asking "Do you like my magazine?" the question is very basic and straightforward. he result was that 40% said "Yes" whereas 20% said "No" and 40% said Needs Improvement. This proves my audience do like my magazine more but only a small amount people do not like my magazine but quite a lot of the audience do think my magazine needs improvement. This was very helpful as it shows that my magazine is has areas that need to be fixed.
In order to know specifically what needs improvement for magazine I decided to create another poll to find out what part of my magazine people like the best and the question was "What part of my magazine do you like the best?" I found out that 50% of people liked my double page spread and 50% of people liked my front cover. This proves that my contents page is the weakest part of magazine and therefore needs improvement. I felt that this helped with the creation of my magazine because it showed that the majority of people generally enjoyed my magazine.
Another way of gaining customer feedback was from the questionnaire that I created and had everyone answer at the beginning of the creating my magazine. I had questioned that would help me such as the preference and the aspiration. This was definitely a big help in the direction I wanted to go for creating my magazine.