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


From my preliminary task, I have used a new feature of technology to create my product, which was photoshop, and this has taught me that it you can create better products and designs on this rather than using publisher. Also I have learned more about magazines in general and that the genre of the magazine affects the overall outcome of what the magazine looks like and what the content is about. Also i have learnt that planning is essential in creating a good product. I created three flat plans which consisted of planning my front cover, contents page and double page spread. These would help me create my product quicker as i would have already thought about the layout of  my images and text.
Aswell as learning that planning my product was essential, i also learnt that researching other products was necessary as it allowed me to find examples of rock magazines which would give me hints on what is needed to be placed in my product.
Overall i think that i have made a vast improvement on my preliminary task as i now know more conventions for a magazine and these have been implicated into my product. Also planning ahead has allowed me to create and change certain things with great ease.

5). How did you attract/address your audience?


I attracted my audience with big, bold and colourful mastheads along with a contrasting background so they stand out more. The use of bold for my masthead will immediately stand out to the reader as will the sizing of the main image on the front cover as i made it quite large so it will grab the reader. I stuck with the same colour scheme to keep with consistency and so the audience wouldn't be too disorientated with a changing colour scheme. Also i edited certain images by brightening them to give them more of a feel on the page as these would also attract the reader. Within my contents page i stuck with a simple layout which would attract the audience because this would mean the magazine being easy to navigate.
I attracted my audience through the use of questionnaires. The questions i asked were to do with what genre of music they would like to see the magazine, what features they most like to see and also the price they would be prepared to pay for the magazine. The results i got were very widespread and varied, apart from the price. I found that most of the people i handed questionnaires out to would be prepared to pay basically the cheapest price available.

6). What have you learned about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

I previously held no knowledge of the technology I used, which was photoshop, and creating this product had let me learn a new skill in using photoshop. Learning this new trade has helped me create and enhance my product as much as i wanted aswell. Working round my peers has also taught me tips in photoshop which sped up the process in creating my magazine. I have learned that the technology i used is a very helpful tool to know how to use as you can create and design pretty much anything. Also using a blog to create my evaluation was new technology as i had never made one. I had to learn how to publish my findings and all the other features. 

4). Who would be the audience for your media product?


The target audience of my magazine would be more 16-25 year old males but this wouldn't exclude any other age group or gender from reading the magazine as they might also like this genre of music. Also the old fans of progressive rock from the 70's and 80's may want to revitalise their interest in prog rock again so they might want to buy the magazine.

3). What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?


For my product I chose IPC media to distribute it as they dont have a specific rock magazine and I think that they would really benefit from distributing a rock magazine as it would bring a whole new customer base. This would mean more money for the company and this could mean a bigger competition in the industry for rock magazines as 'Kerrang' as ruled the roost in that genre of music for a long time now.
Also if IPC media chose to distribute my product that would probably mean an increase in popularity for rock music resulting in more sales of merchandise and anything to do with the rock genre.

2). How does your media product represent particular social groups?


My media product represents social groups related to my magazine as the same as what other people see them as i have developed the pre-conception of rock musicians. Although this magazine is rock, is mostly progressive rock which consists of a niche audience nowadays, although it was at its height in the 70's and 80's.
I stuck with the representations that people from that era will know and love, even if it does show them in a negative light of drinking and smoking.
I find that my magazine sticks to the original concepts of progressive rock to show what the social group want and this will let them introduce new fans to the brand.

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


My media product was a music magazine based on the genre of progressive rock, which is a sub genre of 'Rock.' This type of rock music is a bit experimental and mostly consists of individual brilliance when performing. Basing my magazine on this genre determined what colours and fonts i would use. I decided to stick to a conventional three colour scheme and the colours i chose were black, red and white. I chose the black as the base colour to relate to the fact that audiences see rock music as being quite dark and heavy, which is a connotation of the colour black. I chose the red to accompany the black for emphasis and i thought these colours would work really well on my pages. Also the red has connotations of anger and people stereotype rock musicians to have very loud and angry characteristics. I stuck with the same font for my masthead and headers for consistency and I thought the font suited the genre of my magazine as it was bold and loud and this links with the characteristics I previously explained about the stereotype of rock musicians.

I decided to develop conventions and pre-conceptions of rock musicians and the rock genre by using a model with tattoos and the use of props such as cigarettes and bottles of vodka to promote the stereotype of the lackluster lifestyle of drinking and smoking. Also i stuck with the convention of a mid-shot on the front cover as i noticed that rock magazines such as 'Kerrang' mostly use mid shots to show off the whole artist and to emphasise the facial expression. The cover below is an example of where i got inspiration from. I stuck with the same image layout (waist up) as well as the model having a vivid facial expression.