AS Media Foundation Portfolio: March 2009

1.) In what ways does your music magazine use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of existing music magazines?

My magazine is like an existing music magazine because it links to what an existing magazine would have on a magazine, like the comparison colours on each page like I have done. On my magazine the titles are all in purple, and the writing is blue and green so it goes well with the title, this is what goes on in an existing magazine they makes their colours the same on the front page and the contents page. I think I do challenge existing music magazines because some magazines make all their writing on their front cover to make it all stand out, but I just made the title and the main story big and bold because they are the only pieces of texts that I want people to see as much as the other bits of writing.

2.) How does your music magazine represent particular social groups?

My music magazine represents particular social groups by the person on the front cover, if the person was dressed in a skirt and top and funky colours it might represent dance music, and if it is a rock magazine the main image might be wearing skinny jeans and a tight top. This also represents that the audience may wear jeans. You can also see that all of the people on my magazine are wearing dark colours on their clothes this represents that people who listen to rock and heavy metal wear dark colours. My magazine is a rock magazine and my main image is wearing jeans, so this represents that my particular social groups will be rock groups. Also the music in my magazine is rock and metal so it appeals to a social group that will like rock and metal music.

3.) Who would be the audience for your music magazine?

The target audience for my magazine is 16-25 because I have young bands and old bands in my magazine, so this will attract all ages. Also I have unsigned bands on my magazine and I think this attracts the audience the most because readers are always looking for the next top band. I think it is mainly for the younger teenagers because all my images are of young hip teenagers in bands. Also where the person on my front cover looks kind of a rocker than it will attract readers who dress like her or who want to dress like her and who ever listens to the kind of music that it is on my magazine.

4.) How did you attract/address your target audience?

I attract my target audience by the images, the colours and the stories. I think the stories attract the readers because they are everyday stories and most people are into them. Also I think the colours attract the readers the most because they are quite childish and colourful and teenagers like colourful things, I don’t think this will attract the older generation that much because you mainly see older people in one colour or two, and I think the images attract the audience because if they are good looking people on the front cover they are going to buy it, or if the people on the front cover are famous or rock stars then they will also buy it because people buy the magazine for the main image and the main story.

5.) What kind of media institution might distribute your music magazine and why?

I think the music companies that will distribute my magazine are Kerrang! And NME, I think these music magazine companies will do this because Kerrang! And NME are rock music magazines and my magazine is a rock music magazine so I think this is an advantage because the Kerrang! Company is always looking for new music magazines and bands and I think my magazine does this because I have new bands represented in my magazine and they are all rock bands. I also think that NME music magazine company will distribute my music magazine because of the clothes or maybe the music that is on the magazine, on my main image I have a girl in skinny jeans and the people in NME most of the artists wear jeans. Also in my magazine I have rock and Indie music and NME also has this music in their magazine.

6.) What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing your music magazine?

I have learnt how to use Photoshop, Photoshop is very important to use in producing a music magazine because it repairs anything that looks bad, for example if you have a image and it is too dark or too light then you can put it on photoshop and fix it up. Also if you want to delete a background on a picture than you can delete it and try out all different types of things to make it look better on the front cover. I have also learnt that if you are deleting the background of an image and some of the background is too close to something on that picture than you can feather it too make it not look that bad, or you can even cover up the parts that you can not delete. Also from the feedback I got from the audience when I asked them a few questions, all of them were different some were the same but most were different, I think this helped me because I knew what the audience wanted and liked.

7.) What do you feel you have learnt in the progression from creating the school magazine (preliminary task), to creating your music magazine?

I have learnt to use different types of fonts and different types of colours, because on my preliminary task the fonts were all different and so were the colours I thought this looked messy and improved it on my final music magazine. Also the images in the school magazine were a bit blurry and not that good for a magazine, so I improved the pictures and added more to make the page look more filled up, I thought this was a good idea because I may get more marks if I do so.