1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
When I researched front covers
(music magazines) the most common results I got were, 1. a lot of text all over
the over the cover, and 2. a more simple and neat look with less text . I
thought of the different genres the magazines were supposed to represent, and through
this decided to go for a style closer to Billboard’s
Kesha cover than Vibe’s Usher cover (taking
into account that the magazine is more pop & rock based, and the cover
featuring Usher gives more of a hip hop impression). This is significant because
it is developed on an idea inspired by music magazines, using a style already in
existence, but that maybe also challenges the style many other music magazines
use.
I used the cover as a base for
the rest of my magazine and let colouring, fonts and stories stay like any
other magazine. A thing that challenges many magazines though is how much is
said on the contents page, story from story, page to page. For my double page
spread I gave it a very long story, which would start on my double page spread.
Stories this length you don’t see very often in music magazines, but I wanted
to make my feature full of information for the more curious person.
2.
How does your media
product represent particular social groups?
My music magazine represents the social group of
people who, first of all interested in music, and of those, the people who like
more pop and rock type of music, maybe also with some soul. They would be the
kind of people who like to know what’s new in the music world, and who love
finding new artists to listen too. My magazine represents and attracts its
social group through the main focus: Pop music, music charts and interviews
with the stars.
3. What
kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
The kind of institution that would want to distribute
my music magazine would have to be someone that help start up for someone’s
work if they see potential for it to get better and bigger. They would maybe produce
my product it is made to have a big audience based on genre and the
questionnaire results. The title refers to the meaning of sound (which without
there would be no music), and that might catch their attention to at least take
a look at the magazine. The magazine that gives people a good and descriptive
read with many secrets stashed into it for the big fan base with easy
navigation. It has its one personality almost, colours and the fonts used help
bring that forward, and the music charts would always keep readers up to date
on what big new is in the music world. Even though all these were my intentions
though, I feel like the result should have been better, and even though I did
put a lot of work and effort into it, good will doesn’t always give the best
results. I don’t think it would be something a distribution would pick up and
would think was a really good product, but maybe someone would think it does
have some potential and help improve the magazine to higher standards.
Who
would be the audience for your media product?
Teens and
people in their twenties would mostly be the audience for my media product,
since they are the ones I took the questionnaire on, so it’s made more for
them, but that doesn’t mean others wouldn’t get anything out from reading the
content interests them. The audience would mostly be pop fans, and pop fans
that like a little rock and soul. That would be the kind of content to be found
in the magazine, and so, the kind of fans.
4. How
did you attract/address your audience?
To attract the attention of my
audience, I first had to find out who my audience would be, which I did through
a questionnaire. Through this questionnaire I discovered that making a pop
magazine would be the best option to get a bigger audience. Then I started
thinking about what kind of stories would interest this audience, and I thought
of my main story, a new pop star. I bought a couple of music magazines and went
through to learn more about the way a music magazine are made and what they
should consist of. Since my magazine also was to have a little part with rock,
I wanted a darker colour for the font, and since light purple and pink (girly
colours) is associated more with pop, I decided to put on a darker purple that
I think it’s a good colour that draws attention to the magazine.
5. What
have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this
product?
During the process of constructing this product, I
have learned many different things about how to use different technologies. I
have learned to use a blog, something I have never done before and never really
thought I’d do. I learned how to keep an eye on the blog from the blogs page. I
learned how to post and edit posts, and I learned how to use it to follow other
blogs. I learned how to use a DSLR camera, not just point and shoot something
and hope for the best, but really learned to use the different setting and good
angles to shoot at. The thing I have worked the hardest on to teach myself
though, must be Photoshop. I have never really understood how to use Photoshop,
and ever really succeeded with anything I tried to do in there, but after
countless hours and days doing nothing else than to try to understand how
everything works, I finally learned how to use most of the tools.
6. Looking
back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the
progression from it to the full product?
I have learned a lot in the progression of the full
product, including the technological stuff above. I now have a better understanding
of the music industry, music magazines and magazines in general: how they are
made, how they influence their audiences and to draw people’s attention using a
magazine.
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