Final Products

Q7- Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Below I have compared and contrast my preliminary task and my final product

Q6- What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Photoshop
The software photoshop is used to edit photographs, you can add backgrounds, lighting, text, colour and also shapes which is why it was sufficient for creating a magazine. Having used it for a few months, I have learned how to do things like whiten teeth and change the brightness/contrast of a picture. To figure how to work photoshop I looked on youtube tutorials and step by step guides so I could edit my photos.



Camera and lighting
For my camera I used Samsung WB1100F Digital Smart Camera as my friend owns this camera so I had daily access to use it whenever I needed to, and also because it is a good quality camera. I used bright lights directing to my model so the quality on the photo was better.

Q5- How do you attract/address your audience?

Models
As my target audience is mainly females, I have chosen females to be my models as they can relate to the audience more because of the stories inside the magazines. Also, teenage girls will look up to female celebrities and become their fan, so if my female had a large fan base more people will be attracted to the magazine. Also, since my model is an attractive young female this will create more attention for my magazine.


I dressed my model in darker clothes to fit the rock genre and in typical clothes teenage girls would wear (Skinny jeans, crop top and high heels) to inspire teenage girls for outfits and for them to look at my model and see a role model and she looks just like how my audience may look. Dressing my model up in rock like clothing will hopefully attract people interested in the rock genre, making them want to buy the magazine.



Audience Interests
The front cover of my magazine contains some bands and artists that are very popular and are trending in the rock genre like My Chemical Romance and Fall Out Boy. I've also used bands like Queen to attract an older audience but also because I am certain a lot of teenagers still listen to them now so their music is still popular with all ages. I've also included more artists in my contents page like P!nk, Paramore, Black Veil Brides ect.. so there is a whole range of different bands and artists for my audience to read about.
I also picked my colours on the basis that they were conventional to the rock genre and my audience would like the colour scheme of red, black and white.

Language choices
Since my audience is mainly teenagers, I did not want my magazine to be formal and using Jargon, this is why I used standard English and made it simple to read. My double page spread includes standard English and is very chatty as it is supposed to seem like my model (who is a celebrity in my magazine) is having a normal conversation with the interviewer. My front cover includes quotes from inside the magazine that seem chatty and informal to show that there has been an interview taken place which the audience will want to read.

Q4- Who would be in the audience for your media product?

I have aimed my magazine to attract the late teenage social group which would be around 16-18 year olds, I have also aimed it at mainly girls as the main story is about a female however there are other bands and artists included for males to be interested in if they are not interested in the main feature. Rock music, which was originally known as 'rock and roll' was more popular in the 20th century when it was first discovered. Unfortunately for teenagers who love rock it isn't as popular as it used to be which is why I called my magazine Revive as this could be seen as bringing something back with the magazine.
I also asked my audience who their favourite rock bands were so I could include them on my front page, and since my audience was mainly teenagers and they chose My Chemical Romance, I included My Chemical Romance on the front cover to attract my selected audience.

Since my magazine is aimed at students, they will most likely not have a job so they will not be able to afford very expensive magazines which is why I made my magazine £2.40. This way they can buy the magazine and the company will also make a profit, and hopefully the cheap price of the magazine will make it more popular among students.

Also to represent the social group I chose I picked the models gender, clothes and makeup carefully. Having a female on the front cover will attract more girls to the magazine but also males as she is attractive. The clothes I picked out for my main model to wear were dark, edgy and could be considered rock clothes. The clothes are what teenage girls into rock will/ want to wear so my model represents them. I also wanted the makeup to be heavy on the eyes but still looking as natural as possible, as being the rock genre makeup is heavily involved. I feel like the natural look is important in magazines as it less chance of decreasing girls confidence in themselves. 

Q3- What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Q2- How does your media product represent particular social groups?


Old and new female rock artists

I have included these female rock artists to demonstrate what people look like when they are dressed for the rock genre. I can tell they are dressed for rock as their outfits are basically all black as this colour is huge with the rock genre, also many of them are wearing leather jackets to put an edge to them. Also their makeup is dark colours like black again, and a few of them have very thick eyeliner on. Using these colours will attract a teenage female audience who are interested in rock or who might be getting into rock. These artists are shown to be singing to demonstrate their love of music and that they have talents which is important for people in rock.

Clothes

Clothes was not the biggest factor for my model as clothes to fit the genre of rock is very limited and to stick with the conventions meant picking out darker clothes. However, I did not want my model to be dressed fully in black so I picked out a shirt with a design on to catch more eyes and make the outfit look more interesting while pairing it with a pair of dark purple skinny jeans as they are in fashion and they are not black. I decided to add a leather jacket and some stylish heels that most girls would want to wear. Also the motorbike on the top gives more of a dangerous feel to my model. I feel like the outfit I chose would be something teenage girls would be happy to wear, which would attract them more to the magazine.


Hairstyles and makeup

For my models hair I did a simple look with straight down hair, this is because even though rock artists do concentrate on their hair it is not a big factor. I feel like my models blonde hair works well with the clothes as well as it is a contrast. My models makeup as well are the colours of dark blue and black which follows the rock conventions and fits in with the look of the outfit, I also paired these eyes with a very natural red coloured lip so the audience focused more on the eye makeup.

Q1- In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Here is a comparison between a real rock magazine and my magazine

Masthead
My magazine followed the conventions of a rock magazine as I used the colours of a typical masthead for a rock magazine which is a red rectangle with white writing inside. This way the audience will straight away recognise that it is a rock magazine. The masthead is sleek and not to showy as the audience will want to concentrate on the picture and the stories; it would be going against the conventions if I used bright colours however that would push the magazine more into the pop genre if I used eye catching colours so I decided to stay with the typical rock colours which are red, black, white and also yellow can be used but I decided against using that colour. This will attract more grown up audiences as they care more about the contents then the pictures.

Pictures/main feature story
Researching rock magazines I realised the majority of them had only one main picture on the front. This picture was of the main artist of the article and it would take of the majority of the front cover. This is why I have my model the only picture on the front so she is the main focus for the main feature story in the magazine. This way I can follow the conventions of a rock magazine for the front cover.

Other feature stories
My front cover includes other feature stories of popular rock bands that my audience will be interested in. I have also quoted things said so the audience will be more interested to read on and this is what is demonstrated in other rock magazines. I have included My Chemical Romance as they are extremely famous since they split up and have a huge fan base which will attract more people to buy the magazine.

I have also included a bar code and price to make the magazine more realistic and it is the main thing needed for every magazine

Double page spread

This was the original photo for my double page spread, I chose it because it has a sense of personality unlike the other photos which are very serious. The picture I used for a template was a kerrang double page spread for All Time Low, who are very popular among teenagers so the spread would be designed to interest them.

To edit this photo I zoomed very close onto my models teeth and used the Dodge tool to go over her teeth to whiten them, I then went to the midtones set and lowered the exposure so it didn't look fake but still looked whiter then they were before. Also, I changed the brightness/contrast so the background looked brighter and the colours in my model showed more; for example her shirt, eyes, teeth and makeup.

I used windows publisher to write the article on the double page spread, As this allowed me to fit it in columns and create big letters at the start of the sentences.