The idea for this large, bold title mainly came from Kerrang! Magazine, as their title is in complete upper-case lettering, bold and takes up approximately one fifth of the page. I chose to copy this style as it makes it obvious on what the magazine is. This style is also used by Alternative Press, meaning that this style is somewhat popular throughout music magazines based within this genre. Also, it is attractive, meaning that it’s eye-catching factor is even better. However, I challenged the convention of white writing on a black background (to make the text stand out) by using red text. I did this to make my magazine catch the audiences eye further, while still making my text stand out from the background.

I took the idea of a banner at the bottom of my page from Kerrang! Magazine as they occasionally put in their free offers in a banner, which helps to make the items stand out, encouraging the audience further to purchase the magazine. Also, it can sometimes help to make the magazine more attractive as it takes up more space, making it look less empty. This is also used by Metal Hammer magazine.

When creating my front cover, contents page and double-page spread, I used certain forms and conventions of other magazines. These other magazines were Kerrang! Magazine, Metal Hammer and Alternative Press. I studied many different front covers from these different companies, as well as their contents pages and double-page spreads in order to structure my magazine in a similar way and then develop these conventions so that I could maximise their potential as best as I could and to make my magazine unique even more-so. Below is an image of my front cover in it’s early stage, showing the different forms and conventions that I have either copied or challenged.

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

Shown below is the final design for my front cover. Also, there are examples of the forms and conventions that I have used and then developed in order to create my own unique style with inspiration from professional ideas.

These two examples (from Kerrang! Magazine and Alternative Press) gave me a large amount of inspiration regarding my front cover, as after the main layout was decided, I noticed how these two magazine brands often use the name of the band/artist focused on within the main article on their front covers. I chose to copy this convention as it helps to let the audience know what the main focus of this issue is. Furthermore, by letting the audience know that one of their potentially favourite artists are focused on within the issue, it is convincing them even more to purchase the magazine.

During the studying of the different front covers, I noticed how different magazines have their barcodes set in different manners. For example, the magazine Metal Hammer often have their barcode set on a vertical angle, whereas Kerrang! Magazine often have there’s on a more horizontal angle. I decided to set mine on a vertical angle as it is the style which not many magazines go for, making my magazine stand out among the rest.

Considering most music magazines within this genre offer some form of free material, whether it is a free CD or poster, I decided to do the same by offering both of these. I studied several different magazines which offer free material, and noticed how many of them advertise this material within some form of banner. I followed this convention by putting my advertisement inside a banner, and sticking to it furthermore by making my banner red. Another reason for why I did this was to make sure that it stood out from most other areas of the front cover.

Another convention that I have copied (helped shown by the images above) is the use of the main image on the front cover. After looking through many different magazine covers, it has become apparent to me that most locate their main image in the very centre of the cover. However, I have noticed that sometimes, magazines fill their front covers with their main image (shown by the image above on the right). This is used to emphasize the fact that that band/artist are focused on within this issue.I did not do this for my cover as I believed that it would limit me to what colours to use for my font, as I would be forced to change them in order for them to be readable on the image. Furthermore, this could affectively ruin the use of my colour-scheme, making the magazine inconsistent and unprofessional. I also noticed how the main image covers most of the cover and, in a lot of cases, covers up a small portion of the magazine title. I copied this idea as it is the convention most often used throughout these magazines, meaning that it must be affective. Furthermore, it emphasizes how this artist/band is focused on within this issue without taking up the entire cover. I also had my image edited slightly to make the model glow more. This is to make the image stand out completely from everything else on the cover (besides the article title) to attract the audiences attention towards it.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Originally, I had intended to aim my magazine at both males and females (males more-so) aged approximately between 16-21 as this means that they would be either the same age as myself or slightly older by a few years. This would make it easier for me to write in a way that would interest my target audience as I can easily relate to what they want. However, it became apparent to me that an audience with an age range of 5 years would give me smaller sub-total than what I wish to achieve. Due to this, I decided to change the range to 14-21 years as this would increase my sub-total potential customers by a significant amount. The only issue that would occur due to this, however, would be the difficulty of finding material that both the younger and the older members of my target audience would enjoy.The genre that I chose is mainly heavy rock & metal, which means that it may be slightly more difficult to aim my magazine at those aged as young as 14 years. The main reason for why I chose this genre was due to the fact that it is my favourite music genre, which means that I would enjoy creating my media product more-so than if I had focused it on genres such as hip-hop or rap.Secondly, I chose this genre as it has been selected as the genre that requires the most amount of skill to be successful in. This could potentially make my magazine more interesting due to the skill required.Thirdly, the metal genre has been changed and developed over the years, mixing with other genres such as techno. This is a great reason to choose this genre as it means that it can be aimed at a wider variety of people.Another factor of why I chose this style is because many people within my target audience would be going through the process of puberty, which can result in many different moods experienced by the target audience. Bands in this genre vary the styles of their music a lot, in order to match most emotions as possible. For example, there are heavier songs for those who feel angry at the time and need to blow of steam; there are emotional songs which can help the target audience to relate to the band and not feel so depressed about their own lives; there are happier songs which can be listened to on an average day.When creating the story for my double-page spread, I had to think of a main issue that would interest most of the readers. Because of this, I decided to create two fictional bands with a large fan-base, and create a storyline between the two of them. I believe that this will gain a lot of potential customers as it focuses on two popular bands which will interest many different people, and the news of a possible disbanding of one of them would most likely arouse the attention of their fictional fans. However, there is the factor that, if a story is too long, the audience will become bored with it and may be more provoked into purchasing a competing magazine. Due to this, I added in some information regarding one of the band’s new music production. This would definitely gain the attention of some audience members as it means that they will be able to access more music to enjoy.Yet another factor that affected the style of my magazine was the colour scheme of the magazine as a whole. This was important as the correct colours would be needed in order to fit with the genre selected. For example, the colour scheme wouldn’t match the genre selected if I was to use colours such as pink, turquoise, etc. After studying several other real-life media products, I decided to use a darker colour scheme as that seemed to be the convention used by most magazines within this genre. I used the colours black and purple in order to have the dark affect that would be expected of a magazine within this genre, and then used the colours red and yellow in order to make certain areas stand out among the rest of the magazine. Also, these colours seem to work well in the way of which I have used them, meaning that they do not look out of place, and they do not necessarily contrast with each other negatively.

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

After studying several different media institutions, there were four that seemed to catch my eye. These were IPC Media, MusicMags, Conde Nast and Factory Media. IPC Media caught my eye as, after navigating around their website, I noticed how they were the publisher of hugely successful magazine companies, such as Nuts, NME, Soap Life, Now, Decante, Etc. MusicMags also drew my attention as I noticed how it publishes magazines from large-name companies, such as Revolver and Alternative Press. I was also attracted to Conde Nast as I noticed that it was the publisher of large magazine companies such as Vogue, Vanity Fair and Wired. Lastly, I thought of Factory Media as a good idea due to the fact that it publishes many different magazines, most of it’s successful ones relating to motor sports.

After further thought into this, I decided that both Conde Nast and Factory Media would be the two most inappropriate publishers to use as they mostly publish magazines that are not related to the music industry. Conde Nast would be inappropriate to approach with hopes of getting my magazine published as they focus more on fashion than anything else. With the exception of a travel magazine, an interior design magazine and a home/garden magazine. This issue is shared with Factory Media, as they do not publish any music magazines and, instead, stick only to sports magazines which focus on BMX riding, skiing, surfing, etc. Because of this fact, I have decided that these two publishers will not be in my final decision, leaving just IPC Media and MusicMags to choose from.

Both of these companies have intrigued me as I have noticed how they both sell very popular music magazines (Revolver, Alternate Press & NME) meaning that both of these companies must have a decent judgement of what makes a good music magazine. It is also interesting how IPC Media publish a very large number of magazines but a small number of music related magazines, whereas MusicMags publishes a small number of magazines, all of which are music related.

After much consideration, I have decided to choose MusicMags as I believe that, considering that they only publish music-based magazines, they will have a wider knowledge of the magazine type, which they could then pass on to me, potentially giving my magazine a better possibility of selling in large quantities.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

In order to depict my own target audience, I decided that it would be wise to research existing music magazines and find their target audiences. This would also help me to decide how I will aim my magazine at the chosen audience as I could get inspiration from the existing magazines and then develop their methods to suit my own magazine style.

The magazines that I used to conduct my research were Kerrang, Metal hammer and Alternative Press. I decided to pick these three as they all focus on the same genre of music as my own magazine, meaning that the methods of which they use could also be very affective for my own magazine with a small amount of developing and perfecting.

After studying several different issues of each magazine, it is apparent that they each have a very similar target audience. Alternative Press seem to aim their magazines mostly at both males and females around the ages of 13-19 who have an interest for in the heavy rock and punk rock genres of music, which is the same for Kerrang! Magazine and Metal Hammer, except Metal Hammer could possibly target their magazine at both males and females (mostly males) aged approximately 16+ due to their use of violent imagery. Alternative Press attract their audience with the use of attractively bright colours (except on some occasions) to aim at both males and females, large images of the music artists to instantly inform the audience of which band/artist will be focused on within the specific issue, and the use of formal language (with the occasional joke or pun) to keep their target audience from thinking of the magazine as dull. Kerrang! Magazine seem to copy these methods (despite their more frequent use of darker colour schemes) to attract a similar target audience. Metal Hammer seems to use a much darker colour-scheme more of the time to attract a more precise target audience as they aim to attract the fans of much heavier music, who would most likely be attracted to much darker colours.

After analysing the methods used by these magazines, I picked out some of the most affective and then modelled my target audience around the types of people aimed at by the researched magazines. By doing this, I decided that my target audience would be both males and females that would be interested in the hard rock/metal genres of music and would be aged at around 14-21 years. I decided on this age range as I would be able to create the text in a way that I would find attractive, due to the fact that the target audience would be a similar age to myself. My target audience can vary on social class; from the unemployed to the wealthy, as it is simply the music tastes which affect who will and who won’t be attracted to this magazine.

How did you attract/address your target audience?

As mentioned before, I conducted some research into the methods used by existing magazines of the same genre to gain inspiration in the methods that I should then use in order to attract my own target audience. The methods that I noticed (which were used in all three magazines focused on) were formal language, large images of the band/artist focused on mainly within that specific issue, other topics focused on within the magazine such as gaming, etc.

The use of formal language was the first thing that I decided to use for my own magazine as this would allow me to focus on an audience of a higher age, which also meant that I could discuss matters that would probably be deemed as either inappropriate or boring for the younger members of the audience. This was also good as I, personally, prefer to write in a formal manner as I see informal text as immature and unprofessional, which means that I would be more comfortable inputting all of the information into my magazine and would be able to think clearly and produce better ideas.

The second method that I noticed was the use of attractively bright colours throughout the magazine that would appeal to a wider variety of people than if they were all to constantly use darker colours. However, the Metal Hammer magazine usually uses a much darker colour scheme, yet it often sees tremendous numbers of sales. It is due to this that I decided to have a mix of dark and light colours in order to attract both those who are attracted to lighter colours (yellow and red) and those who prefer darker colours (black and purple). The main reason why I was planning on using the colour black to begin with was that I had noticed how they all use the colour black somewhere within their magazines.

The third method that I noticed was the size of the main image used on their front covers. All magazines that I had researched had at least one large image of a band/artist that was focused on within the issue, and I know that a lot of other music magazines which focus on different genres of music do the same. I decided to use this method as it was a great way to attract my target audience by making it more obvious that one of their potentially favourite bands/artists are focused on within that issue. Furthermore, the use of a large issue leaves less blank space, meaning that the cover doesn’t look empty and dull.

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

Firstly, I have learnt that, depending on the genre of music focused on and ones own personal music preferences, creating a magazine is not always easy, as sometimes, one may be required to create work based around a certain area of which one knows very little about. This is worked around easily, however, if one does the correct amount of research in order to know more about the area in question, although, if one finds oneself without the necessary resources to conduct said research, the work could prove more difficult than originally thought.

I believe that my knowledge of the GNU Image Manipulation Programme has increased dramatically as, during the preliminary task, I did not know very much about it and would only be able to use the basic tools offered, whereas now, after working with it throughout the production of my full product, my knowledge of the different, more advanced tools has increased and I can now work the programme to nearly it’s full potential. Also, I have learnt how to use more advanced image manipulation methods on Fireworks which has helped me to change my images in order to make them suit the style presented within my magazine.

During the preliminary task, I believe that my written work was not at peak levels, as I was very inexperienced in the field of media, whereas now, my written work has increased a large amount as I have learnt about the different areas and aspects of the media world. This, along with my literary progress, has developed my writing skills from the standard, mediocre work, to writing in a more advanced manner.

Finally, my overall knowledge of the media world has improved, as having first-hand experience in the creation of an advanced piece of media has helped me to understand the importance of certain aspects, such as the denotations and connotations of certain items, such as the masthead, article title and main image.