Finshed Feature Article

Finished Contents Page

Finshed Front Cover

Construction Schedule

I created a plan to ensure that I construct my media product within the given time.

The first weeks back in December 2012 will be dedicated to creating my front cover. If I make this first then I will be able to get an idea of the house style of my magazine.
I will spend roughly the first two weeks of January creating my contents page and my feature page will be assigned the remaining weeks of January. This includes shooting the photographs.
If I go by this plan I will then have an extra week to tweak anything and do re-shoots if necessary.

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

It is difficult to say how my magazine relates to a specific social group as the targeted audience for my product is rather wide and varied; many different social groups are targeted and certain features in my magazine will appeal to some but not others.

The photo of the male creating the 'rock-on' gesture would appeal to the slightly younger readers amongst my target audience as these are the people that are more likely to have the time to go to gigs, the places where these gestures come naturally. Readers that create this gesture themselves are likely to be into rock, hard-core or punk music and therefore this photo only appeals to certain social groups (the punks, the rockers etc). It represents these social groups as destructive, loud and miserable because of the expression the boy is making. This representation is the dominant one for people within these groups; they are thought to be angry and / or miserable, and loud when it comes to listening to and expressing their musical preferences. This photo wouldn't appeal to some of the other social groups that are interested in JAKD. Readers that listen to Foals, Jake Bugg and The Vaccines wouldn't find this gesture appealing as it does not relate to the mood and meaning behind the songs they listen too.

These readers would be more inspired by the design of the masthead. The British flag and the rough texture gives the magazine an urban feel. These readers would relate to the urban element of my magazine as they are the type of people to spend their time in cities travelling or shopping; they also take a strong interest in extreme sports such as skating and biking and so would be outdoors in towns or cities that own skate-parks with other people with these interests. This design suggests that JAKD readers are culturally aware as well as patriotic; they support their country and the stereotypical fashions and interests that go with it (Dr Marten shoes - popular in the 1990s; music from bands such as Oasis, The Verve etc - popular British bands). This represents this specific social group as individual (not following the norm) and well educated and cultural.

Despite these two main social groups being extremely different, similarities explaining why they still purchase JAKD regardless of the elements that don't satisfy their interests, are present. These two social groups are heavily dedicated to the music they listen to; they develop an understanding of the ideologies that these musicians represent and they in-turn start to represent them too. They sit at a level of compliance when it comes to belonging to these groups as, although they have a passion and a dedication for the music, they still want the right to be unique and individual. They use the music as a way to express their feelings and thoughts as opposed to changing their way of thinking to fit in with the music.

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

Looking back at my preliminary task now, I realise the lack of thought and care that went into it. Because the target audience for the college magazine was reasonably broad (the only specification was 'college students'), my magazine didn't have any genre specific features or planned colour schemes etc, it just had to contain photos and text that captured events taking place around college.

The photos I took were not very organised or well composed because they were taken during a lesson with no real thought behind them. I went into the Skills Improvement Center and took a picture of my friend working. I felt that this would be a good image to use as it showed the hard work ethic that students in the college should have. Despite the thought being there, the actual quality of the photo was not present; the photo looks kind of blurry and the composition makes it hard to fit onto the front cover of the magazine. This is a mistake I learnt from and considered when making my real magazine. When taking photos for my main task I remembered how the photos' composition effected how they sat on the page. I decided to take photos of people doing poses like a real band / musician would but then cut around them on Photoshop so that 1) they could fit on the page wherever I wanted them too, and 2) so that they gave the magazine a more graphic feel (something that my target audience has an interest it). I didn't want to have one main image like I did for my preliminary task as I felt that this limited what I could show my readers; it looked too similar to every other magazine and I wanted mine to stand out in the design of it. The photo used for my preliminary task was taken at an unusual angle; it didn't capture anything amazing and so the photo looked average and bland. By taking the photo above the girl (a high-angle shot) we are belittling her and making her seem small Had I have chosen to do a photoshoot for my main magazine, I would have also learnt to consider lighting as well.

Since creating the college magazine in the preliminary task, I have learnt a lot of techniques and skills regarding Photoshop. With the help of the skills I had learnt in my photography classes, I developed an understanding of how to edit my own photographs to make them appear more suited to my target audience. Most of the photos went through changes in regards to contrast, levels, colour selection and saturation. I often decreased the saturation and contrast, but heightened the levels as I felt this gave the images a more 'urban' and hard feel; if I increased the saturation, the images would have been really vibrant in colour and this would have been too much given the bright colours in my magazines house style.

The fonts and shapes used in the preliminary task are very amateur and childish; the clashing bright colours and the simple given shapes make the magazine look tacky and unprofessional. From this I have learnt to be more creative and graphical when adding shapes. With my main magazine I decided to do the text in chunks so that the sizes varied and the composition was easier to experiment with. I think that this works a lot better than the text used in the preliminary task as it makes the magazine appear professional and detailed; the time that has gone into it is visible and most of all, it looks more like a real media product.

When creating the masthead for my college magazine I literally just picked a Photoshop samle font and placed it into the conventional position on my front cover; I didn't take any care with design and style and how this can reflect the values of both my magazine and my readers.

Not having produced a double page spread for the preliminary task meant that I had to take inspiration from already existing feature articles from magazines such as NME, Kerrang!, and Q. I took ideas from these magazines and used my new found skills and already existing ones on Photoshop to make them my own.

 

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

Age: 17-25 (majority of readers in the age range of 19-21)

Gender: Mostly male (roughly 80% male)

Social Demographics:

Education / Work: Currently in education (college / university) or in part time work.

Shops: Schuh, Topman, McDonald's, Republic, River Island, Ark, Levi, H&M, online branded clothing stores.

Products / Belongings: Smart phone, deodrants / perfume, skateboards, rucksack, Dr Martins, records / vintage CDs, professional cameras, festival / gig memorabilia.

Preferred Musicians / Bands: Frank Ocean, The Killers, Foals, Jake Bugg, Alt-j, The Vaccines, Radiohead, Kanye West, Oasis, Crystal Castles, new and unsigned bands etc...

TV Preferences: Skins, This Is England.

Food: Take-aways, fast-food, snacks.

Social Activities: Skating, parties, festivals, gigs, nights out with friends.

Other Interests: Art / graphics, photography, fashion.

My magazine being similar to NME means that it will attract an audience similar to that of NME. My target audience is an age of 17-21 however I think that most readers will fall in the age bracket of 19-21. I aim to attract an audience that is young and into current music however I want them to be old enough to be able to afford products and music that are mentioned in my magazine. The people that read my magazine will have an interest in being out; doing things with friends, going to see the musician mentioned in the magazine live and skating. They are the living examples of the lifestyles and culture my magazine tries to demonstrate; they care about fashion but not in the way that they follow the mainstream trends, they watch tv but only programmes that display the social activities they like to take part in and they listen to music because they enjoy and appreciate the talent, not because it's 'cool'. My magazine caters for it's audiences preferences by varying the genres of music that are mentioned and by including other aspects of their lifestyles such as clothing, hobbies and film.