Slide 15- Conclusion

To conclude, I feel I have created a very good piece of work, which is suitable for my genre and very fitting to my target market. I believe that my media product is life like and I have managed to create a magazine which I am proud of. I would not change anything about my magazine as I feel I have worked to my full potential in order to create something which I believe to be very applicable and sufficient. Overall I am satisfied with the outcome and am content with my ability in all the areas of media in which I have studies over the AS Level course. I feel that my achievements are reflected in my progression and this also shows the hard work and time I have invested into ensure that I am able to produce work of a standard which I deem to be the best of my ability.

Slide 14- Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

This is showing the progression in my abilities when creating contents pages. Contents pages are crucial for keeping the attention of the reader. They open up what is to be found in the rest of the magazine. They need to fulfil the expectations which are implicated on the cover page. To do this a consistent theme must be kept. After reflecting back to preliminary task, I do not see this much needed consistency, apart from in the text used. The background is very different and there is still no real feel of meaning behind it. There is no real target audience and the magazine contents page is as vapid as the front cover. When I look at my music magazine I get a completely different vibe. It has a meaning and reasoning and the target market is unequivocal because of this. It creates an atmosphere and you instantly feel attached to the magazine because of this, as though you have a connection. This attribute is absent from my preliminary task and this is a great deficiency.
My music magazine categorises its contents, another vital feature which is not present within my preliminary task. There is no connection from the magazine to the audience and it is very dull due to this. I think that my progression is phenomenal and I have improved an awful lot.
My contents page on my preliminary task only uses one main image, which is something I did not do for my music magazine. After researching and studying, I found this was very rare and that in order to capture the audience’s attention, I would need multiple images to continue to keep the interest of the reader.

Slide 13- Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

As you can see from my two front covers I have progressed a lot in developing and constructing magazine covers. I have learnt the significance of using space and have now mastered the ability to use this efficiently. In my music magazine, you can see clearly that I have managed to use space well and also fill a page effectivel, without overdoing it. When I reflect back to what I acheived with my preliminary task, I am able to see just how far I have come in terms of my competence in Photoshop. My school magazine is very bare and is not overly welcoming, I feel this is something which I have worked on a lot in my music magazine and have overcome my inability to do this, as I have produced a magazine front cover which friednly and inviting. My school magazine is very simplistic which completely contrasts the music magazine I have created, with its very busy, image packed outlook.
My use of images has become much improved. As you can see, the only technique which I had mastered when completing my preliminary task was feathering. This is the only resource of image editing which I used. However, when I moved on to my music magazine, I used many different tools and editing techniques in order to create a striking front cover and to make the images appear perfect.
The use of colour is another thing which I feel I have managed to improve upon. My preliminary task shows a colour scheme of only two colours. I have now managed to incorporate many different colours into the colour and still allow the cover to not look overwhelming or too busy. This is something which I needed to work on in order to find the arrangement of colours which worked well off of eachother.
I found that over time I have learnt how to make a magazine cover appealing and I believe that this has become a very important factor when contructing. Every aspect of my music magazine links in with its “fun and lively” theme which is what is so appealing about it. However I do not see any of this in my preliminary task. When I reflect back to this I do not feel or notice any theme and therefore there is no specific audience that it reaches out to.
There is some similarites which I have noticed however. When looking at both magazine covers I can see a definite two sections which are separated horizontally in the middle of the page. I did this subconsciously, however I now see that this must just be a preference of mine when choosing a layout of a page.

Slide 12- Feedback

After copleting my magazine, I was given some feedback on what other students in my class thought of my magazine. When I received my feedbcak I was extremely satisfied to find that the majority of people found no weaknesses in my final product and had no suggestions of improvement. However I was given one constructive criticism which stated that my heading on the cover would have looked better had it been filled with a yellow colour like so on the other pages which I created to keep the consistency. While I take this point on board, I do not believ this to be true. The title of a magzine is very important and must differentiate itself in some way from the other titles within the magazine.
I have noted some of the positive feedback I have received in this slide, and I was exceedingly pleased to see that everyone who analysed my work understood the message and feel of the magazine that I was trying to create. This is eveident in the comments I received. They also understood who my magazine was aimed at which reassured me that I had done a sufficient job at fulfilling the needs of my target market which is a very important factor to focus on.
Aside from the titles consistency, the class noted that my work showed great continuity throughout and were very impressed with how I managed to keep the house style and yet still add an individual touch to each page. They praised my ability to familiarise the the pages and yet still manage to distinguish them each and keep them all individual. I was very pleased with this as I also felt this was an attribute to my work.
When asked to comment on the impact of my magazine the class were in agrrement that my product reflected a happy and cheesy atmosphere which is very aparent within pop music. They said that I was able to immulate the genre and put it into a print form which was considered artistic and outgoing. I felt this did reflect the music genre of my magazine very well and believe that my magazine was very easy to associate with its genre as it related to it in so many ways.
The class also agreed that my “posed” and “cheesy” images very well suited the magazines representation as pop is highly associated with these two aspects. I was very pleased to see that people were understanding the reasoning for everything which I did in order to link the images to the genre. Another thing which people picked up on on the double page spread was how the image in the bottom right corner intenified the secretivity of the appeal. The image was looking down on “Amelle Marie” and almost suggested vulnerability and that she was being open with us. The fact this image was placed in a corner gave the feel of a secret corner and added further to the mystery I was trying to create. This was something I was surprised that people had noticed as it was a motive which I had thought hard about.
Overall my feedback was all very positive and people felt that I had suceeded very well in this task and was impressed with my progression and efforts.

Slide 11- What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

This slide is showing the process of how I managed to create this bubble effect where the person is jumping out at you. This is something which took me a lot of time to figure out and I used trial and error methods until I finally figured out how to complete this efficiently. Firstly I needed to create the pink circle by using the Ellipse tool. To get the same colour pink I had used previously I used the eyedropper tool to keep the consistency. After drawing this circle, I then drew another one which was slightly smaller and coloured white which I placed over the pink circle. I then opened up the image. Firstly I had to remove the background and to do this to a sufficient standard I used the magnetic lasso tool which differentiates colours in order to outline the image you wish. Once I had done this, I then I then need to transform this image into a circular shape so that it would fit nicely into the white circle and sit along the base of it. To do this I used the cookie cutter tool and selected a circular shape to create the same circular base which was needed. I then had all the resources needed to be able to put it together to create the finished looked. I placed the image at the base of the white circle and arranged it so that it was bought to the front. The outcome shows this bubble effect with the person looking as though they are jumping out at you.

Slide 10- What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

As well as blogger.com, I was also able to gain a greater knowledge in Photoshop elements. I used this software to create my magazine cover, contents and double page spread. I had previously used this software when I carried out coursework assignments at GCSE. However this was a relatively long time ago and my memory of it was extremely limited. I did not remember a lot of what I had previously learnt, however once I had started using Photoshop elements, certain aspects did begin to come back to me.
I used many different tools on Photoshop which all contributed to my finishing product. However there are a few which I will mention here, that I deemed to be very significant and useful which guided me through the process. Firstly we used Photoshop to complete our preliminary task. This allowed us to grasp and understanding of how to use and develop images using Photoshop. As you can see my progression was notable and reflects how I managed to achieve and grow within this area. The gradient tool became a very important contribution to my magazine. I used it multiple times and explored the different ways in which it can be utilized. Firstly I used it to create concentric circles by using the radial gradient. After exploring the other ways to use this tool I discovered the linear gradient which created a misty and pervious feel which I added to the bottom of the pages. It gave a smoky impression which I felt could be associated with stage smoke which is often featured at concerts/shows. The concentric circles were extremely useful to me as this become almost part of the logo and gradually familiarised itself on every page creating a house style which was consistent.
I also learnt how to edit and air brush photographs. This was something which I enjoyed learning about a lot. The image featured on the bottom right has been edited mainly using the smart brush tool, I then selected portrait and fake tan. After I had selected this I ran the mouse over the area which needed the skin tone adjusted and the results are as shown. I felt the need to do this as previously “Amelle Marie” seemed slightly pal and unwelcoming. I wanted to add some colour to her to make her appear appeal, friendly and warm. I also needed to sharpen this mage and so to do so, I enhanced the image and adjusted the contrast and sharpness. This made the image more striking and outstanding.

Slide 09- What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Throughout this entire assignment, I have been blogging my progress. Something I was completely new to and did not entirely comprehend to begin with. I found this use of technology exceedingly interesting and thought it was a very educational way keeping up to date with today’s technological society. I also found it to be an incredibly appropriate way of expressing my abilities and gave the opportunity to show how I have progressed and grown within my knowledge of media studies. However, I feel that when I first began using blogger.com I was a little wary and unsure of how to cooperate with this method of applying my coursework. Like all new things, time allows you the chance to get used to it and you gradually become competent enough to feel comfortable and educated in that particular area. As you can see from the two blogs above, my knowledge and ability to blog has increased greatly over time as I have gained more and more experience. My first blog shows me to be very vague in detail and lacklustre in scrutinising and analysing the subject matter. When I first began blogging, I did not fully understand the need for explicit detail and extensive analysis and I therefore lacked significant explanations in these areas. As you can see a blog from later on, I have learnt how to include and add images to my blogs and I have also learnt the significance of including vast amounts of detail in order to succeed efficiently in my blogging.

Slide 08 - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Representing Social Groups
The social group in which my magazine represents is young girls who are interested in popular culture. My magazines many aspects all work towards creating a specific image of this group which we can stereotype. Young girls who are interested in pop music are generally considered “girly” this spirals from the artists of this genre of music as we often see a reflection of this in their audience as they look up to them as inspiration and often imitate them. The “girly” aspect is also tied in with the colours used in my magazine and this also goes towards representing them as girly. I also mentioned naivety as what my magazine represents my particular social group as. This was due to the fact that the magazine industry uses many manipulative tricks in order to get you to buy their magazine and it is those who fall for these tricks that we deem to be naive. As they are young, this is to be expected however. Magazines creators and publishers are very shrewd in their strategies and they very easily make the potential buyer succumb to the inducements which are put out there in order to gain sales. Pop magazines play on this well with their suggestive headings and quotations which are often equivocal and misleading. Another way I believe my magazine represents particular social groups is that of an ambitious group. I have previously mentioned how my target market look up to these celebrities as inspiration and often imitate these stars. This, in turn gives them the ambition to succeed and lead a lifestyle of the rich and famous. Creativity was another characteristic in which I felt my social group were represented as through my magazine. A consistent feature of my magazine was a pattern of concentric circles. I felt this reflected the creativity of my young minds and almost imitated a “doodle” which is commonly known to be drawn by younger people.

Slide 07- How does your magazine attract your target market?

I also used features inside the magazine which I felt would fulfil the wants and needs of my target audience throughout. I needed to gratify the reader and fulfil their expectations and so I aimed to do this by using various methodologies.

Contents Page

Prominent Headings I sub sectioned and categorised my contents page into five main areas, Exclusives, Weekly, Music, Win!! and News. These five areas differentiated the magazines contents and showed that there was a diverse range of options. The consistent buyers would be interested in the weekly column and others buying on impulse may be more swayed by the Exclusives or Winn!! column. They stood out and grabbed the attention of my target market as there was something for everybody there. By distinguishing the different aspects of the magazine I was speeding up the process of my reader finding exactly what they wanted out of my magazine and I feel this would benefit them greatly. Also, by doing this, I was justifying each article to the reader as it was giving each story a meaning and reasoning. This made the stories seem all the more appealing as they were more comprehensive due to this. The headings caught your eye and I feel this was a good way to enable the reader to decipher what the magazine stood for and allowed them to interact and connect with the magazine.
Bold Names Once the reader has been initially attracted by the prominent headings they will then look further and see the stories which lie beneath. Certain stories will become more apparent to the reader quicker as I have used techniques which will draw your attention to particular stories. For instance, under exclusives I have underlined and put into italics the band name “The Lipsies” as this was a main focus that the magazine concentrated on, on the magazine cover and I felt the need to follow this through. This allowed the reader to pinpoint the story they had recognised on the cover quickly and sped up the process of them reaching the destination within the magazine that they sought out after. I also used colour changes or making the writing bold to clarify certain aspects of the contents to draw the reader in. This technique also makes the story seem more desirable. When the band names are highlighted somewhat, the reader instantly recognises the difference and the opinion of this story is changed and believed to be more worthy. It emphasises the importance if this story and influences the reader to turn to this page and read the article.
Rhetorical Question I used a rhetorical question as the main heading for this page. I felt this was a good way to leer my readers into finding out exactly what was to be found within the magazine. When a question is asked of someone the immediate response is to answer this question and so by using this technique my target market will subconsciously feel the need to answer this question, and by doing so they will need to read through the contents page. This will allow them to feel attracted to the magazine. They would hopefully find something within the contents page which took their fancy and this would make them want to read on through the magazine. It is an appealing method which communicates with my readers in order to get them to feel involved with the magazine and in turn this allows the reader to create a relationship with the magazine and gain trust with it.

Double Page Spread

Introduction An introduction to the interview was added in order to build up a pretence of what was to be expected and to summarise who the interviewee was. It was a persuasive passage which painted a picture of the celebrity life of the interviewee and explained how this interview would give the reader a unique insight into the life of Amelle Marie. This constructed a vigilant awareness within my target market which made them want to know exactly what this interview uncovered. It persuaded them to want to know more about this “amazing” person and what Bubble Pop had to offer on this celebrity. The exaggerated passage play up the contents of the interview to be more than it equates to and in some places is equivocal. This is exactly what attracts my gossip seeking market who will feel that there is no other choice but to read the exclusive interview to uncover the truth about the celebrity. This introduction passage would overwhelm them, causing an impulse which lead to them having to read on.

Extracts and Quotes I once more used quotations and extracts of the interview in order to persuade my target market to read the interview. When quotations are used which were misleading and suggestive it triggers an impulse within the reader that they must find out what was meant by this quote. The extracts that were used was the vital and most important part of the interview. This gives off the assumption that the entire interview is as interesting and exclusively unknown as the quotes are suggesting. They set a theme for the entire interview and this allows them become a significant feature for the magazine and it becomes imperative that they are used to encourage readers.

Slide 06- How does your magazine attract your audience?

When creating my magazine, I was very much aware of my target market and I was careful that every detail I included to the overall media product justified the wants and needs of my specific audience. As my target market were young 8-12 year old girls, this was my primary focal point for concentration when producing the magazine.


Celebrity Images Using celebrity images was a very valuable method of attracting the audience. I have previously mentioned how my target market could be considered as fame seekers and that they are very much interested in celebrity gossip. The images I will use for this will be a very constructive way of initially attracting my target market. My market group would be very interested in seeing celebrity images as this indicated that there is a story inside the magazine about them. This relates back to the inducement of “celebrity gossip” which my young audience find so appealing. The extensity of a young girl’s passion to feel superior and “in the know” is what my magazine will play off of. I will give off the sense that if you buy this magazine you are finding out exclusive secrets about their favourite stars. This is where celebrity images play a big part of attracting my audience. The images instantly imply a story and this story will indicate the elite opportunity to find out something abstract and one off. The images of celebrities are what primarily draw you to the magazine and this is what captures the audience. The images are often suggestive and this also implies what is entailed in the magazine. Images are also usually very prominent and unequivocal and stand out on shelves. The images were what I felt would immediately attract and draw the audience to. This is why this was a very common feature of my front cover. My target market are young, and so I feel to overwhelm them with text would be futile, they are known for their short attention span and so vast amounts of text would not attract their attention. It would be above their abilities and would not have the interesting and fun factor which I prided my magazine on. My target market would not be interested in reading extensively; images are what capture their attention and this is why I featured many “celebrity” images on my cover. However as photography had to be taken by me, the people featured are not actually celebrities.
Exclusives Using exclusives also played on the “secretive” and “one off” factor. It intensified the feeling that the reader was being let into something special that only they would know and created an irresistible impact on them. I wrote the word “exclusive” across the middle page so as to pull the target market to the magazine. This inducement allows tem to feel special and claim the superiority that all young girls seek in life. They are being put on a pedestal and it allows them to feel as though they have been chosen to find out this enigmatic information which is exclusively for them. It creates an illusion that they have been selected and they will find out something unknown if they buy this magazine. It makes the idea of buying the magazine irresistible and this concludes in sales. My target market would be attracted to the idea of an “exclusive” as they are stereotypically interested in fame. It would allow them to feel closer to the celebrity they are reading about and in term allow them to develop a personal relationship with this character. This evolves from the idea that young girls share secrets as a way of bonding and building relationships with a person you trust. To say that you have an exclusive with a celebrity allows the reader to connect with the star and feel as though they are building this relationship. This is another very useful way which I used to attract my audience.
Competitions Another way of attracting my audience was to offer competitions which allowed them to get involved with the magazine and feel as though they were part of the establishment. It gratifies the readers needs also as they will feel that there is the opportunity to get something back from the magazine after they have bought it. It will allow them to feel fulfilment from the magazine and will reassure them when questioning the sufficiency of the magazine. As there is the opportunity for them to win something they will would be intrigued and become devoted to these competitions. It will also be a fundamental reason for the readers to adhere to buying the magazine and this will keep the consistency of sales within my market sector. Seeing a competition on the cover of a magazine that interests a potential buyer may also encourage them to buy the magazine spontaneously. This could influence an impulse buy and this could also consequently grab new regular buyers. If somebody was to buy this magazine on impulse for the competition and found that what they read, they had enjoyed, and proceeded to buy the magazine continuously this would be a competent inducement.
Bright Colours My magazine makes use of bright colours to attract the young mind. Young girls are often associated with the colour pink as it is known as a feministic colour. Therefore I decided to incorporate this colour extensively in my magazine. The bright eye catching colours of blue, pink and yellow which I used throughout to create a dominant house style contrasted against each other to create a magazine which was extremely eye catching. The colours stood out against the white background and this was incredibly conspicuous. The magazines colour scheme was striking and this is how I used colour to attract my audience. Young minds need to be kept active and I felt bright fascinating colours was a good way to keep the attention of my audience. The younger generation are all fun seekers and I feel the colour scheme of my magazine reflected this well, converse to dark vapid colours which suggest the contrary. The “girly” colours which I used were evidently an unequivocal reflection of how we stereotypically view young girls today. When we think of girls, we are immediately associated with the colour pink, as opposed to boys who we associate with a darker shade of blue or green. It has become a tradition and something which we have implemented as a ritual within our society. This is why I used pink as my primary shade to set the theme for my magazine and instantly establish the gender of my target market. I also feel that the colour I used also reflected the genre of music that my magazine represents. Pop music is often associate with females rather than males and this draws us back to the colour differentiation we use to distinguish between genders.
Extracts As you can see extracts from inside the magazine are featured on the cover in order to attract and persuade my audience. This technique was used to give my potential readers a taste of what was inside and allow them to get an idea of what they would find out from buying the magazine. The extract summarises the content of the interview and allows the reader the opportunity to get an idea of what field the magazine places itself within. In order to attract my audience the extracts have to be tempting to them and they also have to be something they would wish to know more on the matter of. On my cover page a quotation states “snubbed by Jemma Sparkles” which falls back to the need for that all important gossip which allows them to feel superior and “in the know”. My target market would feel entirely convinced by the extract which has persuaded them to read the article and would consequently result in that person buying the magazine. Quotes from inside the magazine is a very widely used resource of persuasion and I feel I have incorporated this well in order to appeal to my specific audience. Extracts are used as a preview of what is inside and this sample will have an impact on the reader that they must know more. I believe it is a very good way to attract my audience.

Slide 05 - What is your magazines target audience?

In this slide I have depicted the general characteristics of my target audience. I have concluded that the main elements to focus on were the gender and the age. These being 8-12 year old girls. From this I was able to cultivate a specific target market who I was then able to decide on their individual characteristics which I must consider when making my media product. My job as the creator of this magazine is to cater to the needs and wants of my target market and so I feel I must be able to know my market in explicit detail. I decided upon my target market as I felt pop music is widely aimed at this group. Popular culture is very much known for its attractive singers which are looked at as inspirations to many young girls all over the world. Pop music can also be considered as artificial music, as the songs, backing tracks, tunes, voices etc are all put together to create a specific image. This age group and gender are commonly known as fame seekers and admire pop stars who have become inspirational in their lives. I have used this knowledge in magazine as I have created a very celebrity based magazine. Gossip is another thing which is associated with my market and so I have played on these ideas to consolidate both aspects to create a magazine which any 8-12 year old girl could not resist. My music genre is what sets the theme of my magazine and so to target the audience of this music I must be conducive in following the same methodology used by the genre to attract my target market. My are also those who like pop music and so just by portraying this on the cover I will be representing the morality of pop.

Slide 04 - What Kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Above, you can see the two media institutions which my media product could be distributed with. These are Bauer and IPC Media. Bauer is a very well established business which has grown extensively to have created a monumental distribution basis. IPC on the other hand, whilst still very well established, are a small business with much less magazines distributed under their name. This is the primary benefit if I were to choose Bauer. Their great experience reflects a stability which I need to rely on when distributing my magazine. Also as you can see, Smash Hits is under the name of Bauer. Smash Hits magazine is very similar to mine in terms of genre and target market, and this I feel reflects the competence in how well Bauer are at publishing magazines of this type. This gives me great reassurance and allows me to feel a security with this company. However, having two similar magazines under one media institutions may also be a detriment to my new media product. It may mean that the existing magazine will become extremely competitive in terms of sales take over. This could cause problems within the sales of my magazine and could cause me to renovate my magazine. This issue does not compensate for the experience in which Bauer withhold.

IPC also hold their own advantages which I have looked into, these being their ability to invest time into my magazine. This is a preference that I require for my magazine to succeed. IPC Media are a smaller yet still very much stable company and therefore have the time to spend on distributing my media product to an exceeding standard. This ability is what I found the most encouraging. I am very proud of my media product, and would feel much more comfortable allowing my product to be distributed by a media institution that was more personal and relatable due to their interest in my magazine. I felt that as they did not have many music magazines under their name, and this would be their first of this genre, my magazine would be looked at as an individual and would be thought of more highly than at Bauer.

I have chosen IPC Media as the media institution which would distribute my media product.

Slide 03 - In what ways does my media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

As the existing media products which I studied did not include a contents page as part of their magazine, I have gone straight to comparing my double page spread with one from Top of The Pops (TOTP).

After researching the front cover of real media products I then researched the double page spread to look for inspiration here. I was able to gather the basic structural arrangement which was used to present the double page spread as a reflection of its music genre and also the artist featured. Here are ways which my media product uses and develops forms and conventions of existing media products:
Structure and Layout When comparing my media product to TOTP I noticed that the layout and structure are very similar. Text is minimal and images are prominent, and also both images and text are featured on both pages. I feel this is necessary to keep the attention of a young reader. Each of these aspects caters to the young mind which is known for its short attention span. Images are frequent so as not to overwhelm the reader with vast amounts of text and both are equally spread across the two pages in order to create a lighter outlook rather than deterring the reader by bunching together large amounts of text. The younger generation are taken by images and this is what initially draws them to the article and so I wanted to keep this consistent throughout my magazine.
Main Heading Another similar feature incorporated by both my magazine and TOTP magazine was its use of headings and titles. On my magazine, there is a clear and eye catching title at the top of the page which is also present in TOTP. When researching magazines of my genre, this was a very effective method of grabbing the attention of the audience. I felt it necessary to include this in my media product. I also found that the name of the celebrity featured was in many cases the focalised basis of the heading and so I used this to create the title for the page. My heading also kept a consistent house style which was primarily based on the overall look of the front cover.
Quotes Once more, quotes are commonly used between the two magazines. It is clearly a very regular method of enticing a reading to read the entire interview. When creating my double page spread, I wanted to create the impression that the artist was opening herself up to Bubble Pop and my readers were being given the opportunity to divulge a secret. To implement this in a way which was obvious at first sight, I used thought bubbles to symbolize this idea. It also gave a view of the reader getting inside the mind of the artist. This was also used by my opposing magazine and this proves this method to be beneficial.

There were also ways in which I felt my media product would do well by challenging these forms and conventions. When researching other magazines I felt there were specific aspects which I believe my magazine either could disregard, or improve upon to create a better finished product. Here are ways which my media product challenges forms and conventions of existing media products:
Content I went in a very different direction in terms of content of the interview. My interview was highly based on learning about the artist and uncovering secrets of their life, whereas the interview features in TOTP was primarily based on giving advice to its readers. I thought this was a nice idea, however I did not see it as “exclusive interview” material. To reach the standard I was hoping for, I wanted to dramatise the interview by slightly misleading the reader with exaggerations to create an impact on the reader. This methodology was used to make the reader want to read the interview.
Introduction Unlike TOTP, my magazine included an introduction. I felt this was a very useful method of drawing the reader in. It was a persuasive passage which worked toward enticing the reader to read the rest of the interview. It was used to convince them that what they were about to read was exclusive and very interesting and created and idea that this interview was a “must read.” This was not present in TOTP.

Slide 02 - In what ways does my media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Before creating my media product, I took part in extensive research in order to develop an understand of how to create my media product in a way which would suffice the needs of my target market. I looked at magazine of a similar genre and target market as inspiration. This allowed me to divulge the secrets of how to capture my audience and present and constract my magazine. A lot of my ideas were orginally spiraled from what I had found from existing magazine structures.
Here are the ways in which my media product uses forms and conventions of real media products:
Main Story Heading On both magazine covers you can see that the main heading has become the focal point for the magazine to pinpoint its enthusiasm. For my media product, I wanted to create a very busy style, however I felt it necessary to have a central point which grabs your attention and claims the magazine. Top of The Pops (TOTP) magazine is a well established magazine publication which has a similar genre and target market to mine. TOTP magazine has also used this as an inducement to attract audience. On both magazines it is clear, noticeable and eye catching and I feel this is a necessary element to include on any front cover. I chose to do this as I feel that my specific target market of a younger audience would be attracted by this and would feel drawn in by its impact.
Real life Stories For a music magazine this may seem rare; however as you can see both my magazine and TOTP magazine have included this as a prominent feature on the cover. This type of magazine is primarily based on celebrities and fame plays a big part in selling the magazine nevertheless, including real life stories allows the magazine to seem diverse and less specific. Although the magazine is still very much musically based, it still possesses aspects of other relevant issues. It also allows the reader to relate to the magazine.
Captions/Extracts/Quotes My media product and TOTP have used these three conventions as beneficial characteristics in order persuade and encourage the target market to buy the magazine. It allows the magazine to sell what is inside by exposing snippets of what you will find. It creates an illusion of divulging a secret. One which I and TOTP did this was to use speech bubbles. It gave a clear indication of who was saying it and this allowed the message to be sent out clearly. This was necessary as my magazine was structured with a very busy/messy style and so elements and features needed to be shown as clearly as possible.
Busy Style This was another feature which was present on both magazines. I felt this was necessary for my target market. In order to gratify them, I felt my magazine cover needed to represent a magazine which was packed with gossip. I also felt this all tied in very well with my genre. Pop music is generally known as fast paced and upbeat. I wanted my magazine to portray this so as to reflect popular music culture.
Colour Bright colours are featured on both magazines. It allows the magazine to reflect its genre by exposing its fun, lively and upbeat side. It is important to do this as it is also eye catching and attention grabbing. It makes the magazine stand out and become noticeable.

When carrying out this research, I was also able to discover ways in which I would prefer my media product to differ from existing magazines. Here are some ways in which I feel my magazine differs by challenging the forms and conventions used in real life media products:

Main Images Although my magazine cover does use a main story heading which is accompanied by an image, I do not feel my magazine has quite used this to the magnitude that TOTP have. As you can see on the cover of TOTP the main image is almost the only element which you notice when looking at the magazine and I felt this was just too overpowering and did not weigh up with what the magazine was styling itself as. The rest of the cover looks very busy and images are small and I felt there was no real balance. This is why, for my product I decided to size the image at a standard measurement which allowed the reader to associate it with the main story heading but also allowed them to notice the other features of the magazine. I felt this reached a wider audience as my product offered something for everyone within my target market, with its eclectic variety a mixture of stories.

Slide 01- Introduction

This is my finished media product. It was created using Photoshop Adobe and only original photography, with pictures that I took myself. My magazine genre was pop music and was aimed at 8-12 year olds. My magazine presented itself as a fun, lively and simple magazine which catered to my target markets music needs.

Bubble Pop Magazine Mock Ups