AndreaMedia

After finally finishing my final pages I then went on to ask a few girls from my target age what their opinions were:

Alice: " I really like all three pages, I especially like the front cover, the model on the front cover would definitely draw me in to buy the magazine, the colours and fonts used are very bright and stand out. The front cover contains a lot of magazine which is included in the magazine, I like the idea that free posters come with the magazine! Both the contents page and double page spread are well designed. The article for the double page spread is very interesting and well written promoting the girl band very cleverly. It is very hard to come up with possible improvements... The only bad thing I would say is the double page spread although very interesting it looks very empty, maybe more images could have been used."

Maria: " I especially like the pictures used throughout your magazine, they are very unique and nice to look at. Especially the front cover the model is presented very well, almost as if he is looking at you to buy the magazine. The fonts used are very clear and bright which allows the magazine to be easily read without any difficulties."

In what ways does your media product use from AndreaMaria96

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

'PUMP IT UP' is targeted towards teenage girls between 12-16 year old. How did I do this?

Firstly, as my model for my front page I used a good-looking boy which is very stereotypical of a pop magazine, as teenage girls will be more encouraged to buy the magazine if a good looking singer is on it.
An example which inspired me was the magazine Top Of the Pops which features Justin Bieber as the main image.

Alongside this I also advertised free posters which will appear in the magazine- of the singer. The teenage girls who buy the magazine will be able to keep these posters and collect them each issue. The colours used in my magazine are very bright and vibrant, the colours used range from pink, purple and yellow. These colours will help the magazine stand out when on the shelve in a shop waiting to be bought. Also the layout of the magazine is very chaotic and contains lots of pictures and information.

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

The target audience I am aiming towards is teenage girls, ages between 12-16 year old. The teenage girls who read PUMP IT UP love to keep up to date with celebrity gossip and the latest pop music out. There are many other pop magazines out that are aimed towards teenage girls for example BBC 'Top Of the Pops, therefore there is a lot of competition for different institutions that distribute the magazines for this particular target audience. The institute which I feel fits my magazine best is Egmont, who are known for publishing 'We Love Pop' which is for 13-16 year old obsessed with music, celebrities, fashion and gossip. They are well experienced in distributing pop magazines for teens, so I feel it could be a success. Although some may argue it is very similar to 'We Love Pop', 'PUMP IT UP' is aimed at a slightly younger audience.

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

PUMP IT UP is aimed towards teenage girl aged around 12-16 years old. The target audience enjoys pop music and are now more involved with the latest music and up to date with the newest songs. The readers of the magazine are now old enough to go and buy the
magazine themselves using their own pocket money. Readers of PUMP IT UP have strong interests in programmes such as the X Factor. The artists who have been successful from the X Factor are also very popular with the target audience, especially the boy bands like One Direction. The teenage girls who read PUMP IT UP are very bold and sassy, they like to keep up to date with the latest gossip, they are very keen to get the most out of their life.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

I firstly decided my target audience when writing my treatment sheet. I went on to compare pop magazines aimed towards teenage girls in the market to see what codes and conventions they use to do this.The common things about these pop magazines were the use bright colours, the use of pictures, gossip, interviews and the appearance of well known celebrities. I also conducted a questionnaire which helped me. The fonts I used are bright and simple attracting the audience to read the magazine. I added many pictures of celebrities which is common in pop magazines, most of the pictures I took were on white backgrounds. The language used is very basic and informal, this gives a friendly tone to the reader. I have added free posters to the magazine and advertised competition options which readers can participate in.

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

Looking back I feel I have improved tremendously since my preliminary task. I have developed more skills since then and I have used a wide variety of different skills to help me. I researched a lot into my target audience of 'PUMP IT UP' before creating my pages to help me gain more knowledge of what is required. The preliminary task helped plan and develop how I was going to approach the idea of my music magazine, what was needed to be done. For example taking pictures, coming up with cover lines, picking fonts and colours etc. When creating my music magazine I had a lot more time to plan and come up with ideas which iIwanted to use, I also went through a number of drafts which I was unable to do with my student magazine as we had a limited amount of time. Also a lot more research was completed for my music magazine as I researched into my target audiences more, looking at the codes and conventions needed. When completing my premiliminary task I used publisher which was very basic and simple to pick up on therefore I completed it very easily without any problems. With my music magazine however, I used InDesign which was a lot more challenging and difficult to grasp. However overall InDesign allowed me to produce a professional looking document.

For example the front covers-

My student magazine as seen below is very basic and contains very little information.