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

I looked at other magazines however not many of them had the style I was going for so i look at “Q” to “Rolling Stones”.All the magazines I looked at all used the same thing such as barcode, interesting stories, a model on the front page, date and what issue it was. They change their style on different weeks which i liked so that is why I made up my own individual style. I analysed four different music magazines and found out they were basically talking about the same things like new releases, prices and competition. The name of my magazine is “BASSLINE” a catchy name and very easy to remember which would make reader tell other people about our magazine without forgetting the name. "BASSLINE" is a beat which makes it bouncing and attract the music reader.Also when I looked at other music magazines I seen that sometimes the model covered the name sometimes, I done this because I think it makes people understand the name doesn’t have to be shown if it’s a popular magazine. I used a medium shot model for my magazine as I wanted it to be big and cover the magazine I also used other pictures and catchy lines to cover the magazine front page and so that you could see the picture from a far distance.

· How does your media product represent particular social groups?

After researching what people would like my magazine to be like by using a questionnaire? I aimed it i on a teenage audience 14-19 more towards a female audience. It is a rock and dance magazine however I also had other ideas such as an RnB or pop magazine, but when i looked at magazine on the shelves in the shops I noticed that rock and dance is more this era compared to pop which was more 60s and 70s. My model is attractive I done this two drag in both readers male and female. I based the stories on what my target audience would have wanted. The girl which I had on my front cover would of dragged in the female attention because females will relate to her because she is young and pretty it is someone to look up to. And males would also because she is stunning.

· What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
The institution that I would choose to distribute my magazine would be Bauer publishing because they seem to do be interested in publishing rock magazine such as kerrang. On the other hand my magazine is for more of a female audience so it would be good to have kerrang for the boys and my magazine “bassline” for the girls. This would help increase the company’s profit. It would help bring in a new audience because it is a new and totally different magazine to all the others on the shelf’s at the minute.


· Who would be the audiences for your media product?
I aimed it on a teenage audience 14-19. For a working class audience as I only made my magazine a price of £1.99. And also having working class magazine shows that the stars had to start out from a normal family before they became famous.

· How did you attract/address your audience?


It is a rock and dance magazine however I also had other ideas such as a RnB or pop magazine, but when i looked at magazine on the shelf’s in the shops I noticed that rock and dance is more this era compared to pop which was more 60s and 70s.when I asked teenagers in my questionnaire they also agreed with theory. I know there isn’t a magazine which have rock and dance as their main features because they don’t really mix together. That is why I decided to be different. Even though the magazine is a culmination of two genres I think that it will work as when I asked the questions in the questionnaire the teenagers like my ideas so I thought I would give it ago. The colours I choice for my magazine really stand out with pinks white black and blue. When I first start making my magazine I was using pale colours however it didn’t suit the style of the magazine and didn’t stand out from a distance. I used three different fonts in my front cover this was because i thought it would meet the different styles “ROCK” and “DANCE” then the third one could show them put together. The price of the magazine had to be reasonable because it was only for teenagers. So when they filled in the questionnaire they decided around about one pound to two pound so I decided to go straight down the middle. My first idea was to use more than one model on the font of magazine however the questionnaire showed that that one model would be more suitable. I tried 2 different models and 2 different styles on both of them. The model which i used was a sixteen year girl which matches the image which I wanted for the magazine. We dressed her in illuminates colours mixed with dark colours to mix the dance and rock style together which worked really well.


I based the stories on what my target audience would have wanted. Not always does the reader go for the main story so that is why I had loads of other stories on the page which should hopefully attract the reader. I wanted my model to look like a rock chick so we done her up in clothes to fit the part and asked her to stick her tongue out and make hand symbol what rockers use the bull horns. In my front cover and in my contents page i used the same background colour “blue” I think this made the magazine fit more together i also used the same colours for my writing however a different font. I use the same colours as the front cover because I think that the contents is just as important as the font cover as you have to look at it to find whatever you are wants to read about. So standing out is a crucial thing for the contents page. Even though it is a made up magazine with made up stars I still included real music stars names just to show what musicians my fantasy stars would be like. I only used four images in my contents page, three of people and one of the front cover of my magazine. I used the colours pink, blue, black and white. I didn’t want to use too many colours as I thought it might spoil it. I had a small picture of the editor which was also signed to make the magazine look more realistic and professional. I broke the other stories and my main stories into small headings on my contents page which were number also to help the reader get straight to what they wanted to read for example “LADY GAGA”
I also used Photoshop to write and style my interview on Josie. This time I didn’t use the blue background as I total different part from the front cover and the contents page. I used pink as it showed a girly style because the interview was telling us about Josie new look being different from her girly into more of a punk style. The pink background shows us she is still girly even though the pictures on the page show us more made than sweet she is saucier.

I have used attractive girls in my magazine to drag in the female audience as Naomi wolf in the beauty myth has commented on. She said that by using attractive women to sell magazines is that they are trying to look and have the same lifestyle as the models.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
When combining my images and my magazine on my blog it is a brand new way to distribute your magazine and people being able to comment on your work. The way I manipulated my front cover picture was by adding a tongue bar on my model. I took a image from google of a a ball off a piercing.I opened it onto Photoshop and chopped out the background to the ball was nice and smooth. I change the size to make it small and placed it onto her tongue and applied it, which looks like she really has it done as you will see on my final product. When using the digital camera I took pictures on a blue background then sent them to the computer and made them look professional. when you look at my picture before I edited it you can tell by my skill of using Photoshop as changed the picture drastically.

it was important for me to find out what my audience wanted to see in my magazine as could of damage the sale of it. i set my magazine the way they wanted it even though i didnt like some of the ideas for example rock and dance magazine. the audience did. however after i had finished the magazine i thought it was a graet idea and made it good and different. there was a comment from when of the teenagers i askedabout what they thought of the ideas i had they said "if your magazine is a mixed with rock and dance it will stand out on the shelf and drag in two different kinds of audiences."

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
I’ve learnt how to do my production by carrying out research. I have learnt a lot convention of existing products so I could make my magazine as realistic as possible. When I have look back at what I have done, my knowledge of magazines as widened since I have analysed four different music magazines. I also look at magazines such as “closer and “heat” to make sure I had the right idea. I think that my final magazine is good enough to complete with other magazines on the shelf.My knowledge of Photoshop is very high as I no how to use it at a high stranded such as changing colours, cutting out photos, editing colours , adding backgrounds ,shadowing and blending options to make my text stand out.


by jennifer foster