Hadley O'Garro - Media AS

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

My magazine had utilized has both used and developed conventions of real media products so that it stays true to the many conventions that magazine already has. My magazine was very much inspired by VIBE, and Billboard magazine in terms of layout, colour scheme and their mastheads. In terms of the masthead I noticed that with particular artists the masthead would either be placed behind or in front of their heads depending on whether that artist was popular enough to sell the magazine.

The masthead is slightly covering the artist “Stacey Dube” because she is a new artist that has only been in the public eye for the last year – therefore she is not popular enough to carry the magazine on her own. The masthead is striking, big and used red because it appeals to the human eye the most out of any colour. Following conventions I placed it at the top of the magazine. I also used cover lines (“Drake, Chris Brown, Beyonce, Genevieve Williams ”) so that all the people that these artists appeal to would be more inclined to buy the magazine as well as fans of Stacey Dube. This is the same reason why I used particular artists names at the bottom of the magazine “Frank Ocean, Psy, Lady Gaga, Olly Murs”.

Another reason was to display the range of artists that the magazine covers. I made sure I laid the cover lines around the central image without them distracting it or confusing the readers. I also made sure that the main cover line was easily linked with the central image by making it bigger than the other cover lines and changing some of the particular colours.

Most magazines only focus on one particular genre but I wanted to challenge that particular stereotype so that one magazine would appeal to more people and effectively be more popular. I kept the colour scheme consistent throughout the magazine. The colour scheme utilizes red, white and black. From the magazines that I have seen and studied the masthead differs from issue to issue particularly in music magazines Vibe and XXL.

My main image of Stacey Dube is a medium-long shot in the middle of the front cover. I made sure that the image kept eye contact with the audience because it is crucial and common in all popular music magazines. Most magazine use medium shots of the stars but because this is typical I chose to use a medium-long shot.

I also tried to follow and develop conventions on both Contents page and my DPS. On my contents page I used more than one image to show other artists that were going to be in the issue and the featured artist. I also placed page numbers on the images so that people only interested in certain artists could look at the image and jump straight to the page. These images also show artists that were not placed on the front cover further enticing people to read the magazine. Looking at how Billboard and Vibe magazines separated their regular and featured article sections I decided to do the same. Regular features included US and UK official charts, album reviews and competitions. All these features are present in Q, Kerrang and Billboard magazine. Even though Q and Kerrang are rock magazines, I decided to take bits from them and use them in my own magazine (album reviews and competitions).

In my Double Page Spread, I followed conventions by including a small cover story about Stacey Dube’s rise to fame and success so far and an interview between the artist and the interviewer. Both cover stories and interviews are common in music magazines. The text was laid out in columns which are also another convention of music magazines. I also used a defining quote from the interview in bold text and placed it in the middle of the interview so the reader can get a sense of what certain questions will be about. This is another regular feature that is used in many music magazines. The USP of my magazine is featured on the DPS: a Twitter Q&A session where fans can tweet questions and will at random be chosen and answered in the issue of the magazine. This isn’t common in magazines as it is usually done online and isn’t regularly featured in printed editions of magazines.

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

My media product mainly represents both young males and females between the ages of 13 and 25. This is mainly because it is based on Pop, R&B and Hip-Hop music which is chart music. Chart/Mainstream Top 40 music is most popular with males and females between these ages as they are the ones that listen to it the most. The artist Stacey Dube used for BASS magazine is 19 so she is within the 13 to 25 age bracket. Her morals and her fashion sense appeal to people within this age as they are similar. This can be seen through the clothes that she is wearing and her pose in the central image on the front cover. The central image on the front cover displays a young black female in a tight dress, exaggerating her figure and holding her hip with one arm and her hat with the other. The pose expresses her sex appeal and it is used to sell and promote the magazine. A sex sells particularly within the age bracket that the magazine appeals to; girls will look up to her because of her appearance like do with other popular female artists such as Beyonce and Rihanna. Boys will look up to her because they will admire her in a different, more sexual way.

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

My magazine would be distributed by IPC Media who also distribute NME magazine which is highly popular, highly influential and a staple in the music industry. BASS magazine would be distributed by IPC Media because as a publishing company they are very successful, with a large portfolio selling over 350 million copies each year. However they only currently produce two music magazines: NME and Uncut. Both of these magazines appeal to rock audiences which although is highly popular is not an accurate view of what is currently popular within the charts worldwide. My magazine would be the company’s first music magazine that appeals to Pop/R&B/Hip-Hop music and would gain a lot of publicity because of this. Also there is a big gap in the market for a hybrid music magazine that compels these three genres together. Another reason the magazine would be distributed with IPC Media is because with NME magazine they have earned the world's biggest standalone music site, with over 7 million users per month. Hopefully the success of NME magazine would be repeated with BASS Magazine even though the target audiences are different.

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

The audience for my media product would be both males and females aged between 13 and 25. This is because the magazine focuses on music that people within that particular age bracket listen to. The magazine focuses on chart music which is what most “young people” listen to at the moment. It would be appropriate for the magazine to appeal to them and people outside of their age bracket that are interested in the same type of music. The magazine would be produced so that it mainly appeals to the target audience first and foremost.

5) How did you attract/address your audience?

I attracted my target audience firstly with my artist that is on the front cover. Stacey Dube makes music that the audience likes. Secondly I used other artists that are popular within the targeted age bracket, such as Chris Brown, Rihanna, and Beyonce. These artists are fixtures on the front cover of many other music magazines that appeal to the same audience as magazine such as Vibe. However the magazine also contains the latest news on charts such as the Billboard Hot 100, and the UK Top 40 so it also appeals to people that follow these charts regularly. People that follow these charts regularly are most likely to be the people that the magazine appeals to.

Lastly using social networking websites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube also attracts the audience because the websites are popular amongst them and they are avid users of them. Also it means they can keep up to date easier by seeing information on their respective news feeds and from word of mouth on the sites.

6) What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

The process of constructing my product has taught me a lot about using cameras, software such as Adobe Photoshop and InDesign and also websites such as Prezzi and Survey Monkey. When first using the cameras I had a very basic knowledge and didn’t know about important factors such as shot types and lighting. Using the photo studio I managed to get a small insight of what photo shoots are like in the industry. I had to use a lot of equipment that I wasn’t familiar with and had to improvise when conducting my photo shoot. I had to make sure I planned in advance however so that I had a fair idea of what I was doing and something to work towards. I did have issues with the lighting and the backdrop at first but I managed to get to grips with it quickly. Overall using a camera and the photo studio was fun and taught me a lot about planning and improvisation.

I had to use Adobe Photoshop when constructing the front cover. Using Photoshop was not that challenging for me because I had a little bit of knowledge on how to use it because of lessons in secondary school. When using it for my student magazine I had no trouble with it because I had practiced a little bit and had planned where everything was going to go on it. My experience with Photoshop was better when constructing my music magazine front cover because I was a lot my comfortable with it and it was more challenging. Now I feel comfortable using the software because I used a lot of the tools and try to use a few effects so that I’d know what I was doing later on in the future.

Using Adobe InDesign was tricky at first when constructing the student magazine because I thought some of the tools would be similar to Photoshop. Even though the majority of them were I wasn’t familiar with the ones that weren’t and had to get used to it a lot more quickly. I also think I struggled more because I had experience with Photoshop where as I did not with InDesign. When it came to designing the music magazine I had a little more knowledge on how to use the software and got to grips with it a lot quicker. Now I feel comfortable with all the software because I know how to use them properly.

I also had to use websites such as Prezzi and Survey Monkey; for my presentation and for my questionnaire. Using these websites wasn’t particularly anything hard because they were easy to use and simple. Also I didn’t need to spend as much time on the as I did with other software.

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

I think that my student magazine work did not look that authentic as I didn’t know anything about lighting, cameras, colour schemes and shot types. Now I feel like I can successfully create a magazine that appeals to a target audience because I know how to research appropriately and how to use that research to spot conventions and layout.

I learnt that lighting heavily affects photos because too much lighting in some circumstances can make a photo too bright. Cameras need to be on a particular camera type when taking pictures in different locations because its setting match the location better.

I also think I have learnt a lot more about planning and improvisation. During the preliminary task I planned a lot with the software I knew about but not that much with the software that I didn’t know about. This meant that I had to rush and improvise with certain parts of the tasks. I now know that everything needs to be planned before it is done so that you can work easier, although some things can be improvised such as models at a photo shoot. I have learnt that planning creates more effective work because you can also have it critiqued and be able to improve it before.