First of all in my preliminary exercise I created a magazine cover and contents page for my college. From doing this I learnt the basic techniques and ways of creating an adequate cover and contents

for my main task, along the way I was able to develop the techniques I had learnt.

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

products? The cover image on the front cover follows the typical convention as it has a medium close- up image. This is normally used as it brings the cover star on eye level with the reader. It fills the page, with the tip of the cover stars head just covering part of the mast head.

I chose the font off of ‘DaFont.com’ as it was bold and suited the word ‘chant’. The font size I chose was due to how it fitted across the width of the page with some room left on the right of it. I stayed with a black and red colour theme as from the research questionnaire I found that red was the most popular colour.

The banner at the bottom of the page shows the extra information as in extra artists which are featured within the magazine. This allows the reader to see what else is within the magazine along with the main article.

The masthead also follows the conventions as it is placed just near the top of the magazine, with space left above for a banner also the word is just short of the width of the page- so it stays on he left with a slight gap on the right. I chose the title/magazine name to be ‘Chant’ as the word is one which can be associated with music. I chose the colour of the title to be black with a black drop shadow as it made the mast head stand out against the page, I had preciously tried red writing with a black outline and drop shadow, but the black was suited best.

On the contents page I again stayed with the red, black and white colour scheme also using a grey gradient across the page.

The mast head is bold with the magazine name ‘Chant’ in red to stand out on the page.

The magazine name, date and page number are shown at the bottom of the page in the bottom right hand corner.

The typical conventions for a contents page and double page spread were followed as the use of columns was followed as was the medium close-up image was used for the feature image.

I used the shape tool to create the rectangular shapes behind the text. For the pull quote beneath the artists face, I used black shapes to make the quote stand out on the page and red shapes to make the sub –headings stand out. Using the text effects I was able to increase the spacing between the words so that the text wrapped around the image in the bottom right hand corner.

First the feature image was brought into Photoshop and effects such as ‘brightness/contrast’ and ‘levels’ were used to make the image look more professional. Then another image, a filler image was placed on the page, I used the polygonal tool to cut out the body and head of the image. Then placing this in the corner, I used the shape tool to create a rectangle which was placed behind the image so that it could stand out. I then used ‘drop shadow’ so that the rectangle could stand out against the text. I then used shape tool to create a smaller rectangle to go in the top left corner for the category text to then be placed in front of it. Using the text tool I then created the pull quote and header which is in a large and bold font. I also used a black drop shadow to make the header bolder. The kicker is placed just below the header and is all in black and normal font except for the artists name: Saskia which is in red, bold and capitals. The magazine name, Chant, is also in bold and back and is in italic.

In comparison to a professional magazine front cover, my magazine does have similar qualities such as the large mast head which is on the left of the page and is in a large font which makes it bold and stand out on the page so that it is remembered, banners at the top and bottom of the page which feature extra information, use of puffs and a medium close – up image.

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

The front of my magazine is able to represent different genders as it promotes male and female artists. ‘Tom Verde’ and ‘Elisabeth Bowen’ are examples of this.

From the front of the magazine, it would be hard to tell if there was a specific social class represented, however the lexis used on the double page spread would suggest that the magazine could aim to represent the working or middle class as the lexis used is formal but generally of a lower register.

My magazine is aimed at male and females aged 17 to 30 who are interested in rock/indie music. On the cover there is the image of a girl who is supposed to be at the age of twenty. This fits her into the target audience age range of my magazine and makes her relatable to readers of the magazine.

The artist which is featured on the double page spread is also relatable to as she talks about recently turning eighteen and releasing her new album in the double page spread article.

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

A media institution such as IPC may distribute and publish my magazine as they also publish NME and many other magazines within the media such as ‘Marie Claire’ and ‘Ideal Home’ as IPC is ‘UK's leading consumer magazine publisher with approximately 90 brands’.

Music shops such as HMV may distribute my magazine as could an independent music shop. A book shop such as Waterstones, WHSmiths or Borders could also distribute it. Ways to promote the magazine could be to use free distribution. This could be done by handing out copies outside of music gigs/concerts or at book signings, or even just in city centre's so that the magazine can be promoted as mush as possible.

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

From previous research on various magazines such as ‘Source’ and ‘NME’ I was able to see the conventions and demographics in relation to music magazines. By looking at the demographic I was able to see who the target audience could be based around and how it might change depending on what the magazine features were. So from information gathered, the audience for my media product would be aged between seventeen and thirty.

My magazine would appeal to all races and ethnicities as anyone can like rock/indie music. As the cover star on the front cover is

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

On the front cover of my media product I attracted the audience by using a colour scheme that was based on a red, black and white. I chose these colours due to the questionnaire I had done previously which showed red to be the most popular colour and therefore the best choice as it would clearly catch peoples’ eyes.

By using a medium close up for the cover image, I abided by the natural conventions which are used to create a front cover which stands out. The red lipstick used by the cover star also links to the red theme, making the cover star stand out on the page.

The cover stars on all three pages look directly at the camera which is a basic convention as it draws the reader in. The register used is not too low or too high; this is so that the audience can relate to the magazine without too high or low formality as the target audience is male/female aged 17-30.

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

From the preliminary magazine to the music magazine I had furthered my skills in Photoshop along with techniques I have also learnt. I have also learned about a program called ‘Quark’ and how I could use it to add text onto a page and how it allows you to be able to shape the text around objects on the page. In Photoshop, I mainly used the following tools: shape, magic wand and text. I also used effects such as, drop shadow, brightness/contrast and levels to add effects to the shapes, text and images.

From the original image on the left to the final image on the right you can see how I used Photoshop to brighten the image and darken it in places using ‘Levels’ so that overall it looked more professional. To add the text I then used quark so that I could wrap the text around the filler image and feature image.

Magic wandI used this to select an area of an image, similar areas then also selected so that I could delete or use effects on the area selected,

GradientThis tool was used on my contents page as I used it to create a dark grey to light grey background.

Text The text tool was used on all pages for the general text. I used a website called ‘DaFont’ to download new fonts which I then used on my pages. http://www.dafont.com/

Polygonal lassoThis tool enables you to be able to cut out parts of an image or object. I used it to cut out the background around the body and head on my cover and filler images.

BlurThis was used to blur the edges after I had cut out the

ShapeThis tool was used to create shapes on all of the pages as part of the backgrounds to make text stand out.

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

full product? The preliminary task was to create a college magazine and contents page. I created these

using Photoshop tools such as the magic wand tool to select areas of the main images and deleting them easily, the magnetic lasso tool to again delete selected areas which I had drawn around and deleted and also the shape tool to create shapes to put behind the mast head and other text parts. For the music magazine, contents and double page spread I used the same programmes and tools to produce them, this therefore included the techniques I used on Photoshop and also a new programme: Quark express, which I used to add the text onto the double page spread.

Looking back on the preliminary task, my college magazine cover has some aspects which make it look professional but others which make it look more unprofessional. The basic colour scheme, medium close – up and cover line all are typical conventions and elements which help it look more professional. My magazine progressed in comparison to my college magazine because I developed the techniques in Photoshop which I had used in the first project.

By using new techniques I learnt I was able to create a more developed and advanced magazine which maintained the conventions of a professional magazine. From the progression of my college magazine, I have learnt a lot in terms of techniques in Photoshop as I was able to experiment and learn new ways. I was able to make my music magazine cover, contents and double page spread all look more professional. Along with the use of puffs and banners.