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

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

SWOT Analysis: 

Skills Audit!

If you compare this Skills Audit to my first one you can see that
I have improved my weaknesses that I originally had.




For more information on technology and how it is used in the media
check out the prezi below!

Question 4 and 5! Who would be the audience for your media product and how did you attract them?

My audience was aimed at 11-16 year old so therefore, the language had to be kept quite simple so they could understand it. The colours needed to be bright so they would be kept interested and there had to be a variety of images for their interest too! It's been kept friendly throughout and various prizes to be won! It's cheap so many young people could afford it which may attract them to this magazine over other magazines! 


Here is a video I made :) 

http://youtu.be/5XNVkc88OD8



Here is one of the questionnaires I got someone to fill out! 

I did have more but this was one of the key ones! 

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

Media Institution
by: shannonn_mayy

Question 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

 My media product is a magazine based on the pop genre. Once I looked into other pop magazine and their typical audience I noticed that they tend to aim their product at teenage girls. This then became my aim whilst I was creating my magazine. On the front cover, my main image is of a girl dressed in a black glittery playsuit with large ear rings and other jewellery. When I looked into other pop magazines I found that when often females would appear as the main image but they were dressed in a ‘pop’ way. They never wore particularly revealing clothing as it’s aimed at young girls and they always stood in a casual way as it’s suppose to be a young girls magazine. I took this into consideration whilst creating mine so my main image is only posed slightly and is more friendly than ‘revealing’. When I took these photo’s I booked the photo studio out as this looked to be how many other pop magazines in particular did theirs. This meant that the background was pure white and allowed me to fill it with other plugs/puffs/taglines.  As it’s a pure white background, it implies that the magazine is completely innocent and there aren’t any hidden messages within the background. However, if my background was taken in a run down place it would clash with the typical ‘pop’ theme and probably wouldn’t suit the target audience.

My product is quite colourful and contains a lot of information and text which was something I found nearly all pop magazines did. This is once again as the target audience are young girls so stereotypically they prefer more feminine colours and need something that will attract their attention.  However, I didn’t want my main image to be dressed is extremely bright colours like some other pop magazines do as it would make her blend in too much with the rest of the text/images. Also by dressing her in feminine colours it would distant the secondary audience of boys away as not only would the colour scheme of the text be ‘girly’ colours but now the main image has also followed that stereotype. Whereas, if she is dressed in more neutral colours, it would allow young boys who ‘like’ this particular artist to feel more comfortable about reading the article.

I do believe overall that my magazine probably supports dominate ideas about my social group as it does appeal to girls more by following typical feminine colours and involving ideologies linked to boys and dieting such as “boy crush” and “new diet crazes” as this is what is stereotypically linked to females. The use of the words also reflects younger girls, ‘crush’ as it implies it’s nothing serious. However, the fact that the main image still complies with main ideologies about females such as wearing make-up and jewellery, it does challenge it slightly by wearing more neutral colours that apply to both males and females. 

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

http://www.slideshare.net/Shannonn_mayy/question-1-19167607     Here is the URL in case the above doesn't work.

All of the Finals!

Here are my final pieces, front cover, contents and double page spread! 

Final Double Page Spread!

This is my final double page spread. 

After reviewing my rough draft I noticed that quite a bit needed to be changed in order to make it look more like a 'pop' magazine.

Firstly, as I added in the 'progression of double page spread', the word 'weeks' was changed as I felt it looked too plain to be in a pop magazine. I got the idea to change it from the box down the left hand side as I thought if I alternate the colours it would bring  more interest to the page. 

The colours are also consistent through out with the use of light blues and pinks. This is because it is mostly aimed at young girls, however, there is a secondary audience of boys. I felt the colours matched throughout my contents and front and wanted to keep to a certain theme. 

I also decided to dress the model in mostly black as it would then suit any colour and keep slightly more neutral and would therefore appeal to both male and females. It also makes her stand out slightly more as she doesn't fit with the colour scheme of mostly blues and pinks but she does still suit the page.

I added 'exclusive interview' in the top right as I felt it needed something there to break the page up and to also make the readers feel like they're reading something that no one else has read before. 
I kept the style of writing simple so that the audience could understand what was being said. 
Furthermore, I also added details of the new single and where the readers can listen to it as it was something that appeared in a lot of magazines.

Whilst looking through pop magazine I noticed that they don't use the drop capital letter. I couldn't find one pop magazine where they did so I decided that I would be conventional to a pop magazine if I didn't include it. In addition, I didn't feel a drop capital would be suitable as there isn't a massive amount of introduction which is where it is usually found. There isn't a huge introduction because I felt that the readers being young (11-16) would lose interest quickly if they weren't reading about that artist.

Progression of double page spread!

Whilst I was creating my double page spread I created the 'background' first before adding any of the main text. I knew where I wanted the main body of text to go and where the main image would be so everything else I tried to place around it so it would all fit in together. I quickly realised that I didn't have anything down the left hand side of the page and as it is a pop magazine I needed to add something in there otherwise the page would look too boring and plain.

I came up with the idea to add a few statistics down the side. Although they are 'stat's' they're hardly complicated and if anything add to the idea of 'gossip' which was what I wanted. We did honestly take 277 pictures on the second photo shoot so I thought that would be interesting to the readers. It also would allow them to realise that we didn't get a perfect picture straight away and it isn't always the way.

Furthermore, whilst I was adding those stats down the left hand side I used it as a way to add slightly more colour to the page. By alternating the boxes it brings a bit more life into the double page spread. It also is consistent with the contents page and front cover and matches the colours used on there. 

Later on I then decided that I needed to change the colour of 'weeks' so by alternating that it all matched quite nicely. 

Rough Double Page Spread!

Above is my rough double page spread. 

When I complete my final double page I will need to fill the gap in the bottom left as it's too plain compared to a lot of other pop magazines. This is because pop magazines are typically aimed at 11-16 year olds and so they would typically be more interested in a lot of a colour and items everywhere rather than it being plain. 

There also isn't a range of colours and although the main title/pull-quote does stand out, I could do something to make it stand out even more. For example, either change to colour of it, change the colour of 'weeks, or change the size of it. 

Another thing that will need to be changed it that fact that there is no pull-quote apart from the title. Adding this will encourage the reader to want to continue to read as it would have hopefully have caught their interest. 

The top of the page also doesn't have much to it. It once again looks a bit plain for a pop magazine. 

I will re-do the double page and try to change some of these things.

Prezi- Double Page Spread!

Below is the link to a prezi on conventions of a double page spread. 



http://prezi.com/6jndcj1qtqrp/conventions-of-a-double-page-spread/?kw=view-6jndcj1qtqrp&rc=ref-28225441