1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? The front cover follows many conventions that are used on real media products. It follows a layout that is similar to existing magazines. The masthead is located at the top left of the page so it is easily identifiable at a glance and visible to when stacked on a shelf. Both of which can increase the population of the potential audience. Evaluation The main image covers the whole page and was composed to have the subject centralised. I did this to make the subject prominent due to real media products using the status of the subject to attract audiences and the high visibility of the subject increases the chance of their status being utilised by the magazine. The main headline is located in the centre of the page for maximum attention and it has a direct link with the main image. The fact that the text is incorporated into the image enforces this link. Real media products often centralise the main headline and I used this layout technique within my own product. The date and the issue number are located within the masthead for ease of visibility when stacked on a shelf. Buzzwords are positioned to not overwhelm the reader but to grab their attention. The size of the text reflects this as the size is large enough to be clear but not to take attention away from the main headline/image or congest the front cover. I adopted this convention from many existing front covers. I used a menu bar to included a list of the bands that would be featured in the magazine to persuade readers to buy it as the large number of bands would cover a greater audience. Classic Rock magazine often includes a large number of bands on their front covers. The barcode is at the bottom of the magazine to not affect the synergy and to add influence to the potential purchase.

2. The style of the front cover follows a similar style to existing media products. The house has a typical style of magazines from the classic rock/rock genre. The colour scheme includes white, red and black which is common of rock magazines such as NME however the colour are faded and offset to reflect the vintage style of the classic rock genre. The main font was chosen as it was bold and all caps reflecting the loudness associated with rock. The font did not use a serif to emphasise the relation to the genre. The text on the front cover consists of predominately off-white to contrast against the dark background. The masthead uses faded red with a off-white stroke to differentiate itself from the headlines. It also establishes an icon for the magazine through the text being underlined by a guitar. The name Riff directly relates to the audience and the genre as one of the common attributes of the target audience is that they play/have an interest in guitar and the guitar is a major part of the rock genre. I tried to develop how text is used on magazines by using 2D text in a 3D environment to make the front cover more dynamic. This may make the text more interesting to audiences and engage their interest. I challenged the convention of a giveaway being associated with a cheaper magazine by including one on mine which is targeting an audience who want a higher quality. I did this as the giveaway of guitar tablature would not hinder the reputation of the magazine as the product is not a gimmick and wont massively affect the cost of the magazine like other giveaways do. 3. The contents page follows many conventions that are used on real media products. It follows a layout which is typical of existing magazines such as NME. The magazine name and reference to the page being a contents page is at the top of the page. This is a clear signifier to the reader to what type of page this is. The fact that the contents page is the second page of my magazine means that it conforms to the conventional structure. The two most prominent images relate to the main headline on the front cover and the first article featured on the Top Articles segment. They are large images to enforce the idea that they are the main event of the magazine and to give attention to that article. The Top Articles segment uses separate boxes to create a divide between the different articles and to show clear association with the page number. This has been developed from real media products that only use text and colour. The articles which will attract the largest number of readers have been ordered chronologically. I did this as Classic Rock and NME have done this and I believe that their reasoning behind it is that readers will see that the magazine contains interesting content throughout therefore persuading them to read the whole magazine chronologically. In the subscription offer keywords are emphasised through size based on their importance and buzzwords are large to grab the readers attention. It is located on the far right to be fairly noticeable as the magazine would want as many subscriptions as possible due to it being the first issue. The images on the contents page have the corresponding article title and page number to attract readers to that article visually. 4. I edited the images to follow the colour scheme of red, white and black so they create synergy with the rest of the magazine for a finished effect of aesthetic appeal through consistent colours. I added a border around the images that uses the colour scheme to enforce this idea. Photographs of bands in real media products often use a low angle to convey a higher status. Dennis McQuails Uses and Gratifications theory demonstrates that audiences use the media for their personal identity and presenting bands this way gives readers a possible role model. I developed the convention of using the magazines logo within the contents page by emphasising it more than real media products have. I did this as the large logo enforces identification as it is an establishing brand with objective of gaining recognition through the use of an icon. I found that existing music magazines often include articles based on other media such as film or television. I challenged this by having a music magazine that was purely about the Classic Rock/Rock genre. I did this because my audience research found that my target audience wanted a magazine that focussed on one subject despite the interest in films as shown in my survey results. 5. Like most articles I used a biased view to help promote the band and doing this could also show which type of bands Riff endorses. The article begins with a dropped capital letter which is commonly used in real media products such as both the articles to the left. The font used on the double page spread follows the house style of the magazine and was maintained as it reflects the genre of music etc. The double page spread has page numbers to indicate which page the article is on. My double page spread follows many conventions that are used on real media products: It follows the convention of the double page spread being an interview with an artist and having a large image of them covering both pages which emphasises their importance. It also enforces the artists image by reflecting their style of music through the elements used on the page. The mise-en-scene shows the genre the band represents and an indicator of the content within the article. The clothes Fiscal Jackhammer are wearing in the photograph connote the classic rock genre much like The Vaccines article where the band is wearing old fashioned clothes which reflect the vintage style of the indie rock genre. The dark colours used within the Fiscal Jackhammer photograph also reflects the genre and the location of the image is quite generic. The fact that the image only contains the band indicates that the article could be introducing the band to the magazines audience who may not have heard of them. The band is looking directly at the camera which is quite intimidating as it puts them as a higher status to the audience. This could suggest that the band is being presented as a role model for the audience as they could use the image/article as a model of behaviour (Denis McQuail). My double page spread develops conventions of real media products: The is text laid out in columns which wrap around the subjects in the photo. I did this to make the article seem aesthetically interesting and develop the standard layout used by real media products such as the other articles below. The double page spread does not challenge any conventions. 6. How does my media product represent particular social groups The main social group my magazine represents is that of the classic rock generation. They are presented as the rebellious youth that follow ideologies from the era. The band that is featured in the magazine is presented in a way that follows the representation theory of Hegemonic Masculinity as the magazine portrays them to be aggressive, competitive and oppositional. This is shown through the composition of the images as a low angle and the subject looking down at the audience gives them power. The colour scheme of the magazine includes red which has connotations that show the ideology as it can convey meanings such as aggression. Rock music is dominated by males which is why my magazine contains male only bands as that reflects the genre and the social group. The guitar can be considered to be a masculine object due to its phallic imagery which may be why the style of music is associated with males. The image on the front cover demonstrates this idea. The images reflect the stereotypes of the Classic Rock genre as the band is portrayed to be rebellious and anti-establishment. In context of the Classic Rock genre having long hair is seen as rebellious however out of context it may be seen as a feminine attribute. Another way that the featured band is shown to belong to the classic rock genre is through their clothing. Both the denim and the leather jacket reflect the genre as the fashion was popular during that era and is commonly associated with the genre. The fact that the band uses guitars reflects their background of being middle class or higher as they; like most rock bands, use instruments which only people from that class or higher can afford. 7. What kind of institution might distribute my media product and why? From my market research I found out the main publishers of music magazines and which magazines they distribute. I think Bauer Media would be the best publisher for my magazine because they do not have a magazine that represents the genre of Classic Rock. This would put them into a new market which would expand the number of different audiences that the publisher targets meaning a potential growth of sales. There are not many publishers who distribute magazines of the Classic Rock genre which would allow them to exploit the market. The main audience of the magazine is young adults who play and listen to the genre of music. There is not a magazine out there that focuses on that exact market which makes it the only contender so there is no direct competition. 8. Who would be the audience for my media product? From my Audience Research I decided to target 16-20 year olds who are of White (British) ethnicity and are middle class. I decided on this due to my survey which gave me a general idea of which genre of music is most popular and who listens to that type of music as well as other information such as how much they would pay for a magazine and how often they would buy one. I also found out that more males preferred classic rock music and the interests of the people who liked the genre. I narrowed down my target audience by interviewing a reader of the leading classic rock magazine to get more in-depth answers to help define who my audience is. They said that their preference of quality over quantity, what type of things they would want to see in the magazine and their take on subscriptions. From this research I created a Reader Profile. They were an 18 year old white male form England who liked Rock music but had a preference of Classic Rock. They were in a band who played and covered the genre and went to festivals that had bands that represent the genre. These were interests I found out from my survey. An older audience may also buy the magazine as existing Classic Rock magazines target the older generation who were teenagers in that era and have a disposable income to buy a high quality magazine. This audience was not reflected from my primary research as I did not ask a wide ranged age group. 9. How did I attract/address my audience? I attracted my audience though the use of imagery and text: On the front cover I made the genre visible at a glance due to the name of the magazine, colour scheme and the photographs. I did this because when the audience identifies the genre they are interested in they will want read more. The audience may then be attracted by the main feature, and other articles/bands which are on the front cover. I made sure that all the bands related to the genre and there were lots of them so a larger population will be targeted. Another way I attracted my audience is through the unique giveaway of tablature in the magazine. I am aiming my magazine at people who like to play the music they listen to so this attracts them to buy it. An extra incentive is used with the inclusion of a code which gives early access to the bands new album. The buzzwords used within the articles are emphasised through size which makes them stand out increasing their impact of persuasion on audiences. The large and dynamic headlines may attract audiences due to synergy with the background image making the cover aesthetically pleasing and eye catching. Once they start to read the magazine they will usually turn to the contents page to see the articles included. The page puts emphasis on establishing Riff as a brand due to the large logo and subscription advertisement. The page contains attractive images which relate to the articles stated in the Top Articles section. I put the articles that most people will be interested in at the top of the section which may attract the audience to buy it. They would then turn to the biggest article which would be the double page spread. 10. The double page spread attracts audiences through the use of imagery and text. Audiences who are still deciding whether to buy the magazine would turn this page as it is the main feature article. They may not read the article but will be persuaded to buy the magazine based on the aesthetics of the page. One of the elements that may persuade them is by the text being formatted into columns, one of which wraps around the subject of the photographs head. The audience may also be drawn in through the large image that covers both pages. The audience is addressed through the images I used throughout my production. From my audience research I found out that my target audience were attracted by a magazine that was aesthetically pleasing which is why my main aim for my magazine was to achieve this. One of the main ways I did this was through having a large percentage of space on the pages being covered by photographs as opposed to text. The main body of text is from the article which follows a minimalistic style of high quality as the writing is concise and factual. The style of writing is fairly formal to achieve the high quality appearance. I chose to do this despite genre typically being associated with informal text as it aims to be anti-establishment. The price of the magazine was 3.00 which gives the impressions of high quality while being affordable to my middle class target market. 11. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? I used a large amount of different technology to construct the finished product. During my audience research I learnt how to create an online survey using Survey Monkey. This helped me reach a wider audience as well as it being easy and simple to send to people and for them to fill in. During Pre-Production I developed a basic understanding of Adobe Illustrator when I created a number of mastheads/logos. I used a Canon 550d with a Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.0 to take the photos I used on my magazine. Through taking the photos I had to take into account the composition of the image as it affected where the text will be and the layout of the page. I used Adobe Photoshop CS6 to edit the images and it was the main program I used. I also used this program to edit the other components of the magazine then construct it. I used Adobe In Design to wrap text in columns around a specific area on my double page spread. Whilst using Photoshop I learnt how to edit the colours of the photos to blend with the colour scheme of the magazine. I did this by adjusting the RGB and brightness through the curves effect. I learnt how to use different fonts from the website Dafont and use appropriate fonts for my magazine. During the research process I found out how to access the right sites to give me official data about the market leading magazines and their readership and circulation. Throughout the whole process I had to make a lot of changes to my work and the ease of production was due to the allowance of non-linear editing caused by technology. Another way that technology helped me was through the transfer of files to be uploaded to my blog which I learnt to construct. 12. What do you think you have learnt from the progression from the college magazine to the final product My college magazine consists of basic techniques I had only replicated from exposure to existing magazines. My final product has vastly improved from the preliminary task. I have learnt how to create a clear house style that reflects a genre and is present throughout the magazine due to the consistent colour pallet, font, imagery and layout. The college magazine does not have a house style or have elements that reflect an ideology. I gained the knowledge to be able to make eye catching and dynamic elements. An example of this would be the synergy which is created by the main feature text being integrated within the main feature image. The choices of font, imagery, size, content, language and style all contribute to making the front cover effective by attracting the target audience. I am now able to correctly and accurately use, develop and challenge conventions used by real media products. I began the progression to my final product by analysing existing magazine front covers, contents pages and double page spreads. From doing this I learnt the typical conventions of the magazine medium and how they differed with genre. I also researched the genre of Classic Rock in other media such as in music videos to gain a wider insight of its representation. I used this research to implement the conventions into my final product. 13. My research allowed me to begin pre-production which involved creating flat plans, style sheets, pitch documents, article plans, masthead/logo designs and photography plans, all of which gave me the necessary knowledge to plan a production. They included designs which reflect my research of conventions and what attracts my target audience. The production stage increased my ability to use a range of digital technologies. I experienced using a DSLR to take photographs from a photography plan. My Adobe Photoshop skills improved as I am now able to manipulate photographs in complex ways including the use of masks etc. I learned basic knowledge of the programs: Adobe Illustrator and Adobe In Design. I did not conduct any research or planning for the production of my college magazine and my use of digital technologies was limited as I took the photograph on automatic setting and I edited and constructed the magazine using basic Photoshop skills. I then conducted a range of other research to gain an insight into the market such as analysis of readership and circulation statistics and the publishers of the magazines. I was able to conduct primary research by carrying out surveys and interviews. The survey allowed me to identify a target audience and some of the characteristics of magazines they prefer. The interview gave me greater detail into the elements of a magazine which attract my target audience. I used this information to make sure my final product was correctly marketed to my target audience. During this process I learnt which types of questions should be used for surveys and interviews.