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

For a start I didn't use PaintShop in my preliminary task so I developed my PaintShop skills with my Music Magazine although I didn't use many functions that PaintShop has to offer.
     I don't believe I failed in my preliminary tasks however I experimented more with InDesign for my Music Magazine which allowed me to achieve a more sophisticated look, however I believe that look was needed for the Music Magazine.
     There is a wider variety of text fonts in my Music Magazine compared to my Student Magazine, although both have a constant colour scheme throughout. However my Student Magazine has more images than the Music Magazine.
     The contents of the Music Magazine was also more sophisticated than the one in my preliminary task as it just contains images and a contents but I did highlight the cover stories in my Music Magazine as I did in my first task.
     All in all I have learnt and extended skills in PaintShop and Indesign and managed to achieve two different magazines that would be acceptable and attractive for each audience.

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

This is the first time I have ever had to use the Adobe InDesign & PaintShop software.
The PaintShop technology allowed me to tweak and improve my pictures, by getting rid of the ‘Red eye’ in each of my images and making the colour balance equal, other than that I didn’t use PaintShop for anything else on my final front cover. I did play around with its functions originally, changing the contrast and hue and adding different effects such as black & white, engraved, embossed and blur but realised that it wasn’t helping me achieve the image I wanted for my cover. InDesign allowed me to make my front cover what it is, with its different texts and effects, like shadows, bold, italic and faded, which allowed me to create a different look for each title and heading.

Question 5 - How did you attract/address your audience?

♥ I am a 'girly' girl
♥ I am 17
♥ I love fashion
♥ I love R&B
♥ & I love pink


I took into consideration all of the things I like and used that as a mode of address, that way if I was to see it I would find it attractive and want to read it. Because I used myself as the root for my audience I could understand what others in the same social groups as myself would like and find attractive. This included

♥ The featured artists
♥ The pictures
♥ The content:
- The competitions
- The pictures
- The colours
- The singers
- The music
- The interviews 
♥ The overall appearance

Question 4 - Who would be the audience for your media product?

It is perfectly clear by the style and contents of my cover that it is not aimed at rock fans, unlike KERRANG. Just by the style of the artists featured for a start; Blair sponsors a high street chiffon jumpsuit, accompanied with colourful beads around her neck and a loose, messy up-do with a simple pallet of make-up. However KARRANG's artist is neck to fingers in tattoos, a grade one hair cut and a black motif t-shirt. Although neither are one end of the extreme to the other with their choice of clothing they are both very different. Anyone could sport their style but we have to take into consideration their poses. KARRANG's artist is featured screaming down his microphone, which he is holding with both hands, and his eyes are tightly shut, in comparison with EUPHORIA's artist, she is facing to the right, eyes avoiding the camera with a hand on her hip. EUPHORIA's cover image is a lot softer than KERRANG's, and so is its music.
     EUPHORIA's colour scheme of pink and black is also very feminine in contrast with KERRANG's black red and white, but the style of text is also very different - EUPHORIA's text is in both lower case and capital letters, with a range of fancy text types; however all of KERRANG's text is in basic capital letter and bold colour.
     The other artists featured/mentioned on the front cover are also a big give away. KERRANG features SLIPKNOT and APOCALYPTICA who are also 'rock/ metal/ punk' artists, but EUPHORIA mentions artists such as Rihanna, Beyoncé and Alicia.K - also big 'R&B' artist. The feature artist CONVERGE in KERRANG have also been around for the last two decades so their fans are likely to be older than your teen, however EUPHORIA's Blair is only in her late teens and has only just hit the charts so her fans are likely to be teens and early 20s.
     I believe it's safe to say that EUPHORIA's target audience is 'girly' girls of an age range from 15 to 25 who are into high street fashion and R&B music.

I believe my double page spread supports my target audience that I aimed for in my front cover. Blair portrays a positive image of 'typical' girls around her age - her audience. She talks about all the stereotypical things that 'girly' girl social groups of that age do... boys, fashion, food, best friends and texting.
     R&B is the norm for a clubbing scene, those who like clubbing generally like to socialise. Those who are into fashion tend like shopping and usually consider it more of a hobby more than an experience, and those same people who like to shop tend to have a very big wardrobe. Anyone who has a big wardrobe likes to show it off so they therefore socialise, and clubbing is usually the best place to do this.   
     All of the above support the ideas of an R&B lover, and it is normally visually supported too.

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

Bauer Media Group is a large German publishing company based in Hamburg, and operates in 15 countries worldwide. It would be a perfect company to produce EUPHORIA
     They already publish two big music magazines: Q and KERRANG!
However Q is more of a review music magazine with a mixture of artists instead of being aimed at a specific genre, and KERRANG! is a rock music magazine. EUPHORIA would therefore fill a gap in their portfolio with its R&B and fashion contents. Because of their worldwide circulation the group magazine titles amounts to 38 million magazines a week so they therefore have the resources, finances and recognition to help make EUPHORIA a success.

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

The social group I am aiming to intrest would be the young female fans of R&B who appreciate fashion. Maybe not the 'typical' teenage girl but the stereotypical young girl. Blair sponsors a high street chiffon jumpsuit, accompanied with colourful beads around her neck and a loose, messy up-do with a simple pallet of make-up; this supports the idea she is fashion fanati, however she is facing to the right - eyes avoiding the camera with a hand on her hip, maybe this represent the attitude that comes with fashion - not that they are 'up themselves' but that they do have a visible attitude.     

     The colour scheme includes pink and black is also very feminine which represents women in general where pink is recognise as the 'girls colour', like a boys is blue. EUPHORIA's text is in both lower case and capital letters, with a range of fancy text types; possibly suggesting that those who belong to this social group do care what other see as it has to appear attractive.

     The other artists mentioned on the front cover are also highly recognised women such as Rihanna, Beyoncé and Alicia.K they are also very feminie women, who many idolise. They support Blair's image on the cover; the image of fashion, make-up and attitude that represent's the typical women who would be 'into' R&B music.

   I believe it's safe to say that EUPHORIA represents the 'girly' girl social group of an age range from 15 to 25 who are into high street fashion and R&B music.

I believe my double page spread supports the representation of the social group that my front cover achieved. Blair portrays a positive image of the girls around her age who are into the same things as her; she talks about all the stereotypical things that 'girly' girl social groups of that age do... boys, fashion, food, best friends and texting but with just the right attitude.
    

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

I don't think my magazine challenges any real media conventions, as I based my magazine on a real magazine called VIBE. I believe it's a classy, modern looking magazine and doesn't seem to cram too much onto the front cover - which I think can spoil a cover. By using a cover like this as a base I was able to achieve a similar look - which I was aiming for.
     I like the look of VIBE magazine but I chose this kind of lay out because it has already been accepted in the media world, and it seemed easier than making up my own look which would have challenged media forms. I did originally try and challenge the 'norms' by having my title positioned vertically in the top left corner, but then decided it wasn't a risk worth taking.
     I did however develop from my base cover and create my own - I didn't completely copy it. Both have similar texts and identical colour patterns, the bar codes are also positioned in the same place and both feature a singer's quote. However each have a different colour schemes, and our featured artists are positioned differently, Ciara is in the centre of VIBE magazine, but Blair is placed to the left or Euphoria. VIBE has a banner of text at the top of its cover, unlike Euphoria, but Euphoria does have a tag line under its title, whilst VIBE missed that out. Euphoria only contains 5 cover stories, compared to VIBEs 8 - not including those in the banner.
     So although I did have an idea and a magazine cover in front of me to copy I did make my product my own.