How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My TA would be referred to as being in the social group of "hipsters". These are individuals of whom see themselves as trendsetters and opinion moulders; they consist of middle-class young people of whom use social media to show how they are up to date with trends. Although, I believe my TA are a sub-group of hipsters; hipsters stay on trend and are focused on mainstream music where as my TA like to stray away from this type of music and find new and unique styles of music many other individuals wouldn't discover. Therefore, my magazine will influence their taste in music although they can be selective and so that is why I included a range of artists and features to appeal to a wide majority within this social group. My talent within my final front cover of my music magazine is representative of this social group; she is wearing very casual clothes although it still looks very stylish and well thought out, she has a good posture and isn't slouching where as if I was representing another music genre social group like punk rock the talent may be more slouched to portray the connotations that go along with the TA of that genre of music. The use of mise-en-scene within my image is also reflective of the social group; the talent is holding the prop of a guitar and many "hipsters" are very musically orientated and the setting is also quite reflective of the social group. The setting is a wrecked, abandoned building which would be viewed as a rustic, hipster place to take pictures and to hang out.
The social groups excluded from my TA would be those of whom are the "mainstreamers", these are individuals of whom just follow trends and whatever is popular at the current time rather than finding their own taste and interests. These individuals are excluded because my music magazine does not follow a lot of mainstream music but instead is a source of discovering new music as well as supporting new artists.

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

For my preliminary task I had to create a front cover and contents page of a school magazine that was aimed at secondary students. My final piece is a music magazine that is aimed at 16-35 year olds in a mass audience. I have been able to develop my skills of editing, creativity and my knowledge surrounding making a magazine and its conventions.

I was responsible for all the roles played by industry professionals which included photographer, editor of both images and text, publisher, interviewer and interviewee, director and writer.


https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9s9E2d8EY_FR0d4Mk8wSE0zOXM/view?usp=sharing

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

I have used a wide range of technologies, equipment and software's that have helped me when developing and making my magazine. Due to previous experience as a GCSE media studies student, I used this opportunity to develop in my skills for my AS media.

This is a presentation software that I learnt to use when doing my evaluation of my magazine. I used it as it was something more creative and fun that a normal presentation and it also added a professional feel to my coursework.

Blogger is the software I use to publish my coursework in an effective, easy way. I have found it hard to use blogger as it was very new to me at the beginning of my coursework as I had never used it before. I have overcome some obstacles concerning the appearance of my blog although I believe I can still advance my knowledge of how to use blogger and further improve the look of the blog. Using blogger is an effective, successful way for others to view my work as well as be able to add to posts after publishing them or edit them with ease.

I also used pixlr, an image editing software. I had used pixlr previously when doing my coursework at GCSE and therefore I had no problems with editing my images although I should have used this opportunity to expand my knowledge of editing and become more creative although as the design of my magazine was very simplistic I had no need to be more experimental in my editing.

Canva was also an editing software but focused more on the layout of my magazine and the text rather than the editing of the images. Canva was a new software to me and so at first I found it difficult how to use it effectively but after a few days of experimenting with the software I found it pretty easy to use. This was advantageous for me as by following a layout it made my magazine have an overall professional, realistic look.





I also used a Nikon camera for my images. I learnt many things when using this camera, for example how to get the lighting you want, how to expel shadows, how to take images without a tripod and other techniques which I applied when taking my images.
This was effective for me as I was able to produce the best images possible with this camera and it made the overall look of my magazine a lot more professional.

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

 

My target audience is a mass audience as the indie-pop genre grows and is becoming more popular. Therefore, although the indie genre audience is more niche, the compilation of indie with pop makes the audience larger and I am therefore targeting my music magazine to a mass audience.

A media institution is an organisation that produces or distributes media products', which can be done through many different methods whether it be marketing or production etc. There are mass institutions and independent institutions. "Bauer media" is an example of a media institution, they are responsible for publishing magazines such as "Q" and "Kerrang!" which appeal to mass audiences and are more mainstream music based. Therefore, as I would like to choose a publisher of whom publishes my type of magazine and reaches a mass audience as my magazine would I would like "Bauer media" to publish my magazine. "Bauer media" publishes a range of music magazines with all different genres, therefore, I believe if "Bauer media" were to publish my magazine they would be expanding their audience with this growing genre and my TA is a mass audience and therefore would be beneficial to the institution. Although, it may be more effective based off my TA to have an independent institution publish my magazine so that then my magazine is straying away from the mainstream industry, an independent company would not reach my mass audience as "Bauer media" would. "Bauer media" are responsible for highly successful prints and I would hope that if they were to publish my magazine it would be due to my TA being a mass audience and the quality of my magazine as well as being one of the first institutions to publish a magazine with the indie-pop genre.

 

At the moment there are many mainstream music magazines, mainly focusing on the pop industry, and therefore I believe that there is a gap in this industry for an indie-pop music magazine. Its innovative, fresh, new and something that is desperately needed in the music magazine industry; in the modern day music has become very safe and no one is experimenting with it as much as they used to, therefore many people are just sticking to mainstream music because its classed as "trendy" and a high majority of people have no means of access in discovering new music. This is where my magazine is advantageous to these individuals as it provides a means of access to new music that is unlike their regular consumption. As well as, many of the magazines published by "Bauer media" focus on lifestyle and fashion rather than music and therefore I believe my magazine would fill this gap.

 

Also, the TA would only read a magazine that they trust and due to "Bauer media" having published many very well known brands. Therefore, if I had published with an independent institution my TA may not have trusted it which would mean they would purchase it, consumption will be very low and my magazine may become very unsuccessful. "Bauer media" have described themselves as "Britain's biggest magazine publisher" with many iconic brands within their portfolio.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

https://prezi.com/j_r_z6pjq0dq/who-would-be-the-audience-for-your-media-product/

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? How did you attract/address your audience? (2 questions)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9s9E2d8EY_FUC1PWXY0M1VMaGM/view?usp=sharing

The effects of fonts and graphics

 

The font, Abril Fat-face, shown on the left, is a bold, statement font which would stand out well on my music magazine front cover. The font is similar to the one below although each letter's contrast is more bold and therefore will catch potential buyer's eyes.

The Alike font is very similar to the Abril Fat-face font although the contrast is different; it is much less eye-catching and looks a lot more formal in that it won't match the style of my indie-pop magazine.
Similarly, the Allura font, I believe does not match the style or conventions of an indie-pop music magazine. The handwritten style conveys an informal tone which would be more appealing to consumers as it is portrayed as more personal; although, this specific font is very neat and I believe would be more effective on a classical music magazine rather than an indie-pop magazine. A font similar to this but handwritten in a more relaxed style would convey my music magazine's genre more effectively.
The Economica font is bold and the letters have a smaller width than the previous fonts as well as a smaller weight to each letter. I believe this font would be effective being included within my indie-pop music magazine, it is very simplistic yet appealing to potential consumers of the magazine.
The next font, Gleggo, is very similar to that of Alike, although the width is less, the contrast is less and the weight of the letters is also less.





The Julius Sans One font has a very small weight to the letters, a very low contrast but with a larger width of each letter. It is very clear and bold in some respects although for my magazine I would like the font I use to be bold enough to see from a distance so that passing potential customers eye's are caught by the bold font and then they will buy the magazine.

This last font in Londrina Shadow is not the style of font I wish to include within my magazine; in my opinion this bubble-style font is much more appealing for teen pop music magazines. As my music magazine is indie-pop and is for the more mature I would like a font that would represent that clearly on the front cover.
 These graphics below are those I wish to include within my music magazine; the diamond shape graphic is very effective in the different styles I can create with my colour scheme on my front cover whilst not being too bold or invasive, this is a similar convention of the two of the three at the bottom as the last graphic, the one that is block black, is too invasive as it would cover some of the main image. therefore, I believe I will be using the top graphic and maybe one of the two that are less bold than the third.

DPS

Updated magazine