In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
In my research I found that most of the college magazine front covers included a medium close up of someone, usually a student. Therefore for my college magazine front cover I used a medium close up of a student Jordan Beasley. In the image she is smiling, which would imply that she is happy being at the college. I found that other college magazines 'happy looking' students in their images, to portray how well-liked the college may be. My college magazine also includes many aspects that the majority of magazines i researched had. For example I placed a bold, block colour mast head at the top of the front cover. I kept the colour scheme simple and basic throughout the front cover, using white and other light colours for the background and the text. I placed the subheadings and the other pieces of text over the image of the student. Some of the magazines I researched did not do this, instead they placed the image over the text, or kept the text far away enough from the image. I did this as i felt the image was colourful and bold enough to be able to allow some text to be placed over the top without detracting from the image. I included a bar code, date and price on my front cover to keep it looking as realistic as possible. I did not really challenge the conventions of real media products as I tried to keep my front cover looking as realistic as possible, and in doing this copied a number of different aspects from various magazine covers. I also did the same with my contents page. I kept the layout simple and basic, with a similar colour scheme as the front page. I included images of the same student to show the link and relation between the two pieces, and also because most contents pages I had research included images of students either working, or looking happy and excited.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
My media product would largely be aimed at college students, and therefore the general group I am representing would be students. However, from my research I found that the image and colours used in the front cover will determine who will have more of an interest in the product. I decided use an image of a female, and use rather feminine colours. This would most likely mean that females would buy and read this magazine over males. My media product, therefore would be representing young, female students who are in higher education and interested in improving their time at college and want to make the most of their education. The subheading included in my front cover '10 ways to keep up with work' will appeal to those who want to do well and achieve good grades in college, reinforcing the social group being represented in one of my media products. The contents page also will appeal to those who want to do well and are interested in the college, for example 'up and coming trips' would be of interest to those who want to go over and above the basic curriculum and want to make the most of what the college has to offer.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
My media product is a college magazine, and therefore would be aimed at students and possibly student's parents. This would mean that the media product would be distributed at the college, for example on campus and possibly in a social shop on site if there is one available. More popular shops such as WHSmith may be interested in distributing this college magazine as they are a main provider of stationary and equipment for those at school or college. Other media institutions most likely to distribute my media product could also be organisations such as HMV, this is because as well as CD's and DVD's they also sell print media such as books and posters. HMV is a company aimed mostly at a younger audience, therefore people attending college and 6th forms would be more likely to shop in here, resulting in them being more likely to buy the media product. However, media institutions such as BBC could also be interested in distributing the media product as they could advertise the product online or on TV. This would benefit BBC as they would then be seen to be taking a keen interest in student's college life and education.
Who would be the audience for your media product? (Refer to your research)
My main target audience for my media product would be students attending the college. However another audience could be the parents of the students at the college as they could also take a keen interest in the college or additional information. In my research, I found that some of the subheadings for titles of included articles were about stories other than to do with college life. For example in one magazine there was an article about a student being pregnant. I didn't want to stray too much from the idea of it being a 'college' magazine, so I included an article about trips away. Although they are organised by the college, the trips would appeal to those interested in visiting different places, possible abroad. This would mean that my magazine would appeal to those students who are more interested in this side of college, and visiting a wide variety of different places. This would be another specific target audience for my magazine as I have made it clear that it is an important part of my magazine, as I included it on the front page.
How did you attract/address your audience?
My front cover would be the main media product that would attract my audience as this is what they would initially see. I included a large image, taking up the majority of the page in order to attract their attention. I also used a bold, block colour mast head along the top of the front cover, this would catch someone's eye passing by. I used a plain white background in order to make sure that the image, mast head and additional text stood out on the page. The text 'A new year - a new you' could ultimately be referring to a number of things, therefore this subheading would appeal to a wide variety of the students at the college as they may be interested in what this article is going to be about. The image of the female student, dressed in casual clothing would also be more likely to attract the attention of the female students as they may feel the magazine may be more relevant to them. The bold text about foreign exchanges, which takes up the bottom right hand corner of the front cover would attract those interested in broadening their learning and learning about new languages and cultures. I used bold white text, placed over the top of the image for this, as the white stands out over the darker colours of the image, and the bold text is eye catching on its own. I have used a little amount of text on the front page, in order to make the front cover stand out more as people are less likely to stop and read a massive amount of text in passing.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
While constructing this product, I have learnt that they layout and structure of a magazine's front cover is the most important part of a magazine. This is the only page your audience will be able to see, and therefore it has to be as bold and eye catching as possible. The page should not be too crowded with too much text as this can be off putting, and the text should also be easy to read (not dark on a dark background, or light on a light background.) Constructing this media product has shown me that I need to make sure the images and text and over all look of the front cover and contents page needs to be as realistic as possible in order for it to be effective. Making this media product has also shown me how to edit photos in photoshop and construct front pages and contents pages in publisher. It has also shown me how to bring photos and text together to make it look as realistic as possible.
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