7) Looking back on your preliminary task what do you feel you have learnt in your progress from pre-lim to full task?
Looking back at my pre-lim task I feel that I have successfully gained more knowledge on how to create a realistic front cover and use different techniques for targeting my audience. I feel that my pre-lim task is extremely poor in comparison to my music magazine. However, I do have more knowledge about technologies such as Photoshop then I did previously before hand, such as being able to use it properly and knowing the correct tools to apply.
If I were going to change elements of my pre-lim task I would make changes to the layout schemes of my front cover, such as use of colours and images, and present them in a much clearer form. I would also apply changes to my use of wording and phrases used to attract my reader, and use a much more interesting form of language and preferences to appeal of more interest.

6) What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing your magazine?
The technologies I have used in the process of constructing my magazine have been learning how to work using Photoshop, copying pictures and covers using the scanner, and I also have a hand in the photography department, so my main advantage during this project was that I have a wide knowledge on how to take pictures and how to use the photography cameras. Problems I encountered when using these technologies are that at first I found it difficult to use Photoshop and had difficulties in creating and editing my magazine covers. But eventually I overcame these problems, mainly from using Photoshop in my course in photography, which helped me understand and get used to working with it in a much more advanced way.

My main idea I had for my planning stage was to create a first draft of my front cover, contents page and DPS including pictures taken of the original bands, so that I could try and visualize the effect I want to appeal to my readers. I was unable to actually use these images due to copyright purposes, but instead I recreated the pictures I was interested in, and used my own original images to portray the same effect. To do this successfully I used Photoshop to construct a realistic cover for my magazine.

5) How did you attract your audience?
To attract my audience I have used specific techniques for the layout and representation of my magazine, such as use of dark bold colours, pictures, words, phrases and topics of interest. Mode of address is very significant in this case, and relates to how the magazine ‘talks to its reader’, for example identifying their interests and what would appeal to them.
Also to attract my audience I have used specific pictures of people who could be presented as ‘classic rock’ bands, to show audience what type of genre my magazine is.

4) Who is the audience for your magazine?
As I have mentioned, the target audience for my magazine is men aged between 30-45 years, simply because this age range of men would be most interested in the ‘classic rock genre’ due to it being around their time. To get a clear idea of my relevant audience I have created a mood-board and ‘A day in the life of’ account to represent my reader and give an example for the type of person who would bu my magazine.This includes possible hobbies of my reader, what their interests are, where they live, what mode of transport they would take, their favourite bands e.t.c. The effect of this shows a broader range of my ideal reader, and would help decide what institution and publishing house would be most suitable for my magazine, by identifying the audience.

3) Who would/what kind of media institution might distribute your magazine and why?

The institution I would consider most to distribute my magazine would be IPC, because I feel this would be the most suitable institution who will be interested in my genre of magazine. In the early 1990s IPC launched ‘Loaded’ which launched a new wave of 'lad mags', and became very popular amongst the male sector. Due to my magazine being targeted towards older males of the classic rock genre, IPC would be the perfect source for locating my buyers and would be of interest to them.
Other reasons for choosing IPC is because other publishing houses such as Bauer would be unsuitable for my genre of magazine, as they target a much broader and younger audience which is irrelevant for me. This would also create competition against other magazines such as Kerrang, Q, and Classic Rock which are published by big market institutions such as Bauer and Future publishing. However, magazines such as ‘Classic Rock’ target the same audience as my magazine, so there would be high competition between these two. To broaden my range of buyers I would have to use different elements of technology such as presenting a website or advertising on the internet.

2) How does your media product represent a particular social group?

To target my audience I have used techniques on my front cover such as images, colours, titles e.t.c. Also I have created a mood board in my scrapbook which shows the interests and hobbies of my ‘ideal reader’, and describes ‘A day in the life of..’. Since my magazine is cheaper than the similar genre magazine ‘Classic Rock’ I am hoping that the buyers and fans of classic rock music would prefer to buy a cheaper resource with the same information.

1)In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My media product uses many different conventions to try and fit in with the magazine industry, however there are many challenges involving competition with other magazines of a similar genre, such as ‘Classic Rock’. The mode of address for my magazine is shown on my front cover targeting my audience of males between 30-45 years old.
To do this I have used dark and bold colours such as black and red, which represent a male’s taste, and also have used a lead male guitarist as my main image to identify its genre and audience. To overcome competition with other magazines, I have chosen a suitable price which is slightly cheaper than ‘Classic Rock’ but still suitable for a monthly finance. This would create a lot of competition between the magazines as they both contain similar information and target the same audience.