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

I think Billboard, Vibe and Vogue magazine would be more likely to publish and distribute my magazine. Reason for this is that Billboard magazine are specialist in music news, radio stations and worldwide music chats. This could increase my audience to a wider audience as Billboard doesn’t only publish RnB music but Pop and Rock music. This would help my magazine as it may get other people who are not as much interested in RnB and Pop, to take a look and be aware of my magazine in hopes that they would like it. Also billboards always has famous and successful artist on their front cover, this is a good reason as the bigger the artist the more the views. My magazine will benefit from this as more viewers will be able to see it.

Vogue also would publish my magazine as my magazine also conducts with fashion; this could be proving as the models in my front cover are wearing fashionable clothes (woolly scarf, jean jacket, toms and Christmas leggings) everything that is in fashion now and also designers.

Finally Vibe magazine however, Vibe magazine is more of a Hip Pop magazine. Nevertheless my magazine would get attention from male readers, as more male readers are interested in rap. On the other hand, even though it’s more of a rap magazine with mostly male rappers on the front cover, they do have female artist on their front cover as well as male, such as Nicki Minja.

Reasons why these magazines would publish my magazine is because they have similar things in common. The similarities are that my magazine is based on artist with their own style and sense of fashion; this is where Vogue comes in. Then Billboard magazine always has news about new songs and music videos that will be coming out, just like my magazine will be telling and inform you about new songs and what to expect in awards.  Finally Vibe magazine is a more Hip pop magazine and in my magazine I do mentions male artist, so this may be a way to expand my male audience.

 

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

My music magazine target audiences are both male and female, ages 16-25 and my subaltern is RnB, Pop with a bit of Hip Pop. Reasons for the ages is because, 16-25 are known to be  more interested in music magazine and fashion, also my magazine has young people as my front cover, and elderly people wouldn’t be interested as much as the younger people. Also the artists mentioned on my magazines are all modern day artist and not no one from the 90s. I was able to attract females to my magazine based on my front cover; it had all females dressed appropriately, not showing cleavage or skin. This is a good thing because most females hate seeing other females expose their body for attention, instead get the attention through how great you are and not how great your body is.  Adding to that I was able to get males attention as they’re all girls on my front cover, and men love ladies. The fact that they are all beautiful and talented lades makes it even better and an even more reason to get to know them.
 

I had an idea of my social group and represented it through my magazine, but my image in my front cover didn’t relate that only because, I realised that when we think of power, normally we think of male dominated, so I decided to use females instead to show change in power however, my models being all black is because now-a-days you don’t see many black successful people on front cover, especially black successfully women.

They were all wearing colourful clothes reason for this is that, it was more welcoming and the colours are very bright and welcoming which helps. This look is more in the pop culture, the clothes are fashionable.

The models on my front cover weren’t wearing so many accessories, makeup or even fail nails and eyelashes.  The whole idea was to keep it natural, simple and fun. Let the image speak for itself. Another reason is because in most magazines you see a lot of women’s faces laid with pails of makeup just to get the audience attention. I wanted people to look at my magazine to see simplicity, not fakeness.

My content page also followed the conventions used in an actual magazine. I was able to copy the convention of a content page as I analysed a real music magazine content page. I also challenged the convention by putting my ‘GOLD’ ‘O’ symbol  at the top of my content page so it could be recognised, and where ever that sign is people will know its Gold magazine without even having to see the name of the magazine (GOLD). I also used pictures to attract the audience. I used pictures that would connect with my cover line.

I added categories vertically on my page; this convention is used in music magazine which lays out your content page neatly and makes things easier to read.

Also my double page spread follows the convention. Firstly I used a huge picture on the right hand side of my magazine, and a simple colour scheme so that they both look professional. I made my headline stand out as I wanted it to catch the attention of my target audience.

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

With my project I analyzed a real music magazine to see how it’s structured and presented and what audience the magazine is attracting. By analyzing magazines I was able to get an idea of what a music magazine should look like. By looking at other music magazine in compare to my magazine, I challenged and developed forms and conventions of a real magazine. I used the ideas I saw in other magazines to make my magazine look as close as possible to a professional music magazine. I started off with a masthead as it’s the main the thing you see or the main thing that catches your attention, to buy or look at the magazine.

By using this as a convention, it made my magazine start to look like a professional music magazine. The font I used was downloaded from http://www.dafont.com and the font was under Roman Greek and it was called “Ancient Geek”.

(Roman Greek font)   ( Ancient Geek font)

I chanllenged the convention by using a different simble to represent my ‘O’, because the name of the magazine was called ‘GOLD’. By using this simble it made it different from other magazine as the rest of the letters were normal but the change of the ‘O’ gave it a powerful look that I was going for.

By using this sign it would instantly atract my target audience as its dominating and would automaticly stand out from the rest of the other magazines. This sign I used in my magazine would be a constant sign through out my magazine, as I would want people to recognize my magazine even with out the name but because of the logo as its dominant. The reason why I didn’t put my image infront of my masthead is because is I wanted my masthead to stand out, to be powerful. Even the name of my magazine ‘GOLD’ is a powerful name. I came about that name as ‘GOLD’ is very powerful, it stands out and it’s very expensive. So by that I’m trying to say that my magazine is powerful, it carries all the information you need. So tha is the reason why I didn’t want to cover my masthead.

I challenged the convention by using selling line but later on realised as I kept on searching magazines, that most magazines already have selling line. By using a selling line I wanted to promote the magazine and make it have a catch phrase that will automatically be recognized. As my magazine is both male and female I wanted the selling line to represent that just as the masthead. My selling line was ‘Royalties Only’, as Gold is powerful and, you have to be rich in order to read Gold. This does not really mean you have to be rich to read Gold, what it’s trying to say is whoever buys this magazine will be a royalty and would be powerful, as you will get all the information and gossip before its even out.

I also tried to find ways to get people to have more reasons to buy my magazine, as I got this idea from other music magazines. I offered an IPod to be won. In hopes that they would want to win one, and the only reason they can do that is by buying my magazine.

I continued using conventions; I used a barcode and a blackberry barcode as well. In most magazines the date is next to the barcode, on my magazine I decided to put the name of the magazine ‘GOLD’ with the ‘O’ symbol on top of the barcode, and on top of that I put the price of my magazine. There I challenged the conventions as most magazines wouldn’t put their name of their magazine, on top of the barcode especially if their magazine is popular.

I also added my magazine website in order for my readers to assess what’s new and what’s coming up.

My content page also followed the conventions used in an actual magazine. I was able to copy the convention of a content page as I analysed a real music magazine content page. In my content page I included text boxes with numbers, regular categories, a main image; reviews issue date and most importantly editor note, all a real content page will have. I also included other images which are used in real content page magazine convention; this was so you could, illustrate what other issues where in the magazine and whether you will want to continue reading.  I did this so it would be easy for the reader to be able to scheme through to find what they are looking for. I also challenged the convention by putting my ‘GOLD’ ‘O’ symbol at the top of my content page so it could be recognised and, where ever that sign is people will know its Gold magazine without even having to see the name of the magazine (GOLD). I added pictures to attract the audience. I used pictures that would connect with my coverlines.

I added categories vertically on my page; this convention is used in music magazine which lays out your content page neatly and makes things easier to read.

Similarly, my double page spread uses and develops conventions. Firstly I used a similar colour scheme as my front and contents page, as it carries the same look and make it recognisable. I also followed the convention as I had a big picture on one side and, on the other I had loads of writing. I continued the blue, yellow and white writing. However I used a red headline, the reason why I didn’t do much to the heading was because I wanted to keep it simple as the quote on the left hand said ‘I always say to myself stay positive, it will turn things around that would make things better. Dream and achieve’, was the main purpose.

Double page spread final

Double page spread

contents page

front cover