Magazine and contents page

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

I wanted to make my cover of my magazine to look as realistic as possible

Comparing it to a real life magazine cover i noticed some similarities and some differences

These include:

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  the pose is very similar but the shot for Lucky is on a higher angle
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  the models are both positioned in the centre of the page with the sell lines placed around them
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  the fonts are fairly similar and they both have different sizes for the importance of the story
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  the lighting and the shot distance are very similar
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  i have a two colour palette (blue and black) but the Lucky magazine has a three colour palette (white, pink and red)
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  the content isnt similar as Lucky is a fashion magazine
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  both model have no props and a similar pose
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  the costume is very different but both work well with the colour of the magazine

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

i did not target one particular audience or group because i wanted to appeal to a large audience within the college. i didnt want to be gender specific or to fit into a tribe. the range of different types of stories is quite large so it appeals to a large number of people attending college. if i was to target a particular tribe i would be closest to indie as alot of people are individuals in college.

i have tried to make my model look as friendly and welcoming as possible, she looks like this because i have made her smile, slightly tight and not too serious and intense. she looks like a typical student.

3.Who would be the audience for your media product?

my audience is college students from trendies to indies. i want this magazine to be for people who are aspiring to go places within the working and education world yet still like to have fun in their spare time

4.How did you attract/ address your audience?

i tried to attract my audience by placing a yound student on the front who looked welcoming and inviting. on the contents page i placed her with a file to reinforce the fact that this is a student who is ambitious. the magazine contained so many sell lines and stories that are targetting students. this included what to do after college, during college and during college breaks. knowing i was targetting students it made it alot easier to design a college/ student magazine because i knew what to write about and what type of model to use. As i have used a wide range of stories and havent been gender specific or targetted one specific group it makes the audience wider. i believe this would make it more appealling to students.

i questionned a number of student about my product they all liked the range of sell lines and the layout although they thought that as it was only a girl on the cover it wasnt obvious it wasnt gender specific. this is something i would change if i was to redo this magazine cover.

5. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

every piece of equipment i used to make this magazine was new to me. i had never used photoshop, indesign, blogger, a mac and i had never taken a professional photo in a studio before but i enjoyed using it all.

i feel knowing how to use this software has definately developped my media and editting skills which will benefit me in the future.