Q.7. Looking back at the preliminary task what have you learned in the progression of it to the final product?

Looking firstly at the cover I can see that compared to my preliminary task I have chosen a much more conventional image. Where in the preliminary task I chose a shot which left a lot of dead space I have since learned my lesson and Equalizer has no empty space to ruin the look of the magazine. Furthermore my Photoshop skills have improved greatly with the subjects head in the prelim being 'blocky' with a number of un-necessary straight edges. I have also adopted the convention of having the subjects head slightly overlap the magazine name. Something i didn't feel confident in during the prelim.

My prelim contents page while conventionally things were in the right place it was sparse and lacking extra information like email and/or social media. In my final contents page I indicated which stories were on the cover by making them larger and bolder. I feel however that i had a lack of shot variation in my final piece, something i didn't notice while putting it together. Matching fonts between cover and contents was extremely important as it ensures continuity throughout the magazine.

Taking what I had learned from the preliminary task and what I had applied to my music magazine I put together my double page spread. This followed a number of industry conventions With one large image of the musician taking up one page and the start of an interview (This would continue for many more pages),

Q.6. What have you learned about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

New media technologies have played a huge role in both the collection of data and the creation of the product. Below I will be listing some of the technologies I used and how they benefited me.

Facebook is one of the largest and most used social media products in existence today, as well as owning other popular sites like 'Instagram'. This site gave me access to the rock community and gave me the option to ask questions when choosing the name genre and content of my magazine. Facebook is a tool that can be utalised to get in touch with ones audience and allows for a more immersive product to be created because of it.

Adobe Photoshop is the other big hitter without which I would have no media product whatsoever. It's wide range of varied tools and easy to use UI allowed me to create professional looking work with relative ease. Tutorials like the one below really opened a door and allowed me to do things with my product which I didn't previously know was even possible. I have learned so much about Photoshop over the course of this task that I feel much more confident in the program.

Considering how lacking my knowledge was in using Photoshop, YouTube played a major role through it's various videos which informed me as to how I should go about the creation of my task. With YouTube being linked to google plus i had the added luxury of people being able to answer my questions on G+ rather than youtube.

Q.5. How did you attract/address your audience?

To attract my audience I ensured that I replicated some of the conventions in other rock magazines. It utilises dark colours and contains a number of freebies, for example a GTA V dlc. As my target audience will most likely be earning minimum wage freebies are the best and most successful way of enticing them into reading my magazine. Furthermore it features a wide variety of both popular and obscure bands.

The design of the magazine is easy to follow, with my article split into columns and the it's white design, while simple does not distract the reader from the article. This contrasts heavily with the rest of my magazine which adopts very dark colours. This helps the article to stand out and will attract the readers eye as they flick through the magazine. This is crucial as many people when considering whether or not to buy a magazine they will pick it up and quickly rummage through the pages. By making my double page spread stand out it increases the chances of the reader seeing my interview.

To further attract my audience, an audience which is varied and far apart, I have a number of different social medias listed. This wide range of media increases the chances of fans being able to connect with one another as well as being able to receive the latest news from all their favorite artists and bands. Social media plays a huge role in the lives of everyone meaning that it will appeal to the new generation as well.

To further appeal to my readers I created a character that captures the essence of rock and roll. He is rude, cocky and doesn't take anything from anyone. This character type fits the stereotype of the rock crowd and would be most appealing to the demographic.

On the contents page i have an area of the magazine listed as the "tour guide" while it is an interesting play on words it also does exactly what it says, is is produced with the latest tours and events being mentioned,

Q.4. Who would be the target audience for your media product?

This is David Johnson; he is 21years old and lives in London. He enjoys hanging out with "the bro's" and often dresses casually donning one of his many hoodies and a pair of jeans. When he's not playing video games he often enjoys going to the cinema and watching the latest box office hits. In terms of films he enjoys the action and adventure genre dabbling slightly in the world of science fiction. He is rather outgoing and enjoys going to parties, carnivals and of course music festivals. With regards to music his favourite genres are rock and metal with his favourite band currently being AC DC. He is rather social and has a job that pays just above minimum wage as he lives with a flat mate he is able to use more of his money on entertainment. While this will not be the case for all the readers of my magazine people like David make up a large majority of my audience. While he has money David would be more inclined to buy a magazine if it contained “freebies” meaning when I craft my media product I will have to look closely into what is has to offer. David also has a love for comedy watching shows such as mock the week and live at the Apollo as well as having gone to many live stand-up events. He enjoys it when someone makes him laugh and says that a little wit wouldn’t go amiss.

Q.3 What kind of media institution might distribute my media product and why?

Q.2. How does your media product represent a particular social group?

After carrying out research on my target audience I discovered that my readers would likely be males aged between 17 and 25. These people will have an interest in much of the media looking for something good rather than something of a specific genre. I feel that by using dark colours and a bold font I will have successfully appealed to my demographic as it looks rather rough. The heavily contrasting colours also add to the atmosphere I try to create of a rock magazine that will cover less mainstream higher quality music.

taking photographs I tried to create aggressive and dominating poses further adding to the atmosphere I was trying to create.

These three different poses capture the attitude of the character as cocky and fearless, an appearance some have come to expect from rock music. My demographic will either empathise with this character or envy him meaning they will want to read about his life. Using a particular artist will also encourage their fanbase to buy the magazine. This means picking a well-known artist within my target audience will boost sales. Comparing this to some other characters in magazines I have looked at my artist captures the image that is conventional within rock music.

My magazine represents this audience as it represents their lifestyle. Young people (more so in men as portrayed by the media) tend to live reckless lives, drinking too much and partying too hard. Rock culture is shrouded in this image and my magazine through the use of bold fonts and a cocky artist as the subject. Besides this I also appeal to a much older audience as my magazine covers band which are not currently popular but considers as “vintage” or “old school”. This brings in a separate part of rock culture with people looking to rekindle their youth through the feeling of nostalgia.

Q.1. In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?