1) In what ways does my magazine develope, use or challenge forms & conventions of real media products?

My music magazine uses forms and conventions of real media products due to the fact i have presented my front page, contents page and double page spread in a very well presented way. This would include a professional appearance with tidy factors such as suitable fonts, these are very important to create an atmosphere and create a more detailed atmosphere into the scene and feeling. A good example of this is making fonts italic to show the music genre is always fast and moving forward.

Secondly my magazine challenges the strong colour themes well established magazines use, i have purposely limited my colour scheme to a maximum of four colours. I have only used contrasting colours which complement each other and moods, this is a big part of challenging conventions of real media products due to the fact it will catch audience’s eyes and make my product alike to professional media products.


Finally my magazine challenges in other forms and conventions such as text and fonts. The fonts i have included in my media product both fit the music genre in a very suitable manner, the font i have used for my main title and sub headings fits its purpose perfectly by simply catching audiences eyes instantly. On the other hand the text i have used for writing is very thin, italic and straight forward which relates to drum and bass very well making my media product very competitive against top magazines which use text and fonts to connote an atmosphere.


2) How does my media product represent gender, culture and youth?

My music magazine clearly represents modern gender, culture and youth due to the colour themes, font and style i have used throughout my media product. Certain things which represent gender in my media product would include new technology, this is a very hot topic which is hugely debatable that males are usually more associated with technology. I have no females involved with my magazine due to the fact i have never seen a well known female DJ, this clearly shows the male gender is more popularly associated with my media product.

Secondly Culture is represented clearly in my media product shown through the dedication of these music producers, there is a sense of culture due to the fact the new and upcoming producers are inspired by the original pioneers of the drum and bass culture. This shows an emotional view into the culture and the ways that the amateur drum and bass producers are striving to be like the icons.

Finally youth is represented due to the fact everyone was inspired from a young ages which led them through the path to enjoying drum and bass, this shows from my interview with Chris that fans become intrigued at a young age and usually end up becoming DJ's and drum and bass music producers too following their icons steps.


3) What kind of media institution would distribute my media product and why?

I personally think my media product would appeal to institutions such as Bauer due to the fact they are very popular, known and successful. Bauer are involved with television and the radio which both suit my media product very nicely. My media product could be promoted very successfully through the television by showing music videos and displaying interviews with upcoming talented producers. On the other hand the radio could promote my media product very well by giving out messages, playing music and generally promoting my music magazine. The more the word expands that dnb source is a new magazine which is one of a kind a lot of people will be interested and aware of my media product.

I personally think Bauer would be interested in distributing my media product because drum and bass is a much unexplored part of the music scene and is slowly but surely becoming a lot more popular. The more promotion I can get with my media product the more known and distributed the music genre will become. People are very interested in new music categories and this is the perfect institution which could help me while I could help them with expanding their sales and business.


4) Who is the audience for my media product and why?

The main audience I have targeted my media product at is mainly males and females aged 15 to 30. I have decided to aim it at females even though it is more of masculine music genres due to the fact females are a great way of promoting new things due to them being easy to cooperate with for most people.

I have decided to start from an early age such as 15 due to the fact teenagers become inspired at gullible young ages and start becoming fans of famous music icons. This is a strong and positive way of releasing a magazine, teenagers will most likely ask their parents to buy their monthly copy of the magazine to follow and support music they enjoy. Teenagers are also a very big part of promotion, this would involve teenagers enjoying a certain genre of music and sending it to their friends while they are still at school which is a very successful and popular way of getting known quickly.

On the other hand i have also decided to aim it at the older generation of male and females since as people get older they create a passion for something which they enjoy. In this case if someone would have a passion for drum and bass and have been following it for years they may want to start collecting my media magazine product to cherish their childhood and have memories to look back on.


5) Looking back to my preliminary task, what have I learned and what progress have I made?

Since making my school magazine for my preliminary task I have learnt a huge deal about magazines, companies and general skills.

The main thing I have gathered since my preliminary task is my passion and progression with photoshop. This is evident from looking at my music magazine front cover and comparing it to my contents page and double spread, you can clearly see from comparing these three products that the front cover was created first. This shows because my contents page and double page spread are presented in a more stylish, tidy and professional manner. This shows that I have greatly progressed while creating my media product.

Secondly I have experienced it is not so simple to just take any image and insert it into a front cover, certain additions need to be included such as picture editing for the most successful images. Depending on the photo and its condition you need to make minor tweaks using photoshop to always get the best from your picture. This can sometimes include using the lasso tool to cut another person from an image or simply experiment and improve contrast, brightness and saturation.

Finally I have learnt more about presentation and where to stop when it comes to photoshop, a good example of this would be displaying the discipline to not over edit a magazine cover or page. This could range from many different things such as adding too many effects or exaggerating unnecessary colour changes. The moral I have stuck to and learnt is the more simple you keep your editing the more of a professional presentation it will contain.



I have made a video using Adobe Premiere Pro to give a sneak peak into some of the stages of making my media product. I have also included 2 questions which i included in the interview with my somebody.


1) Does the double page spread contain enough contexts and give you enough information?

Yes there is certainly enough information, from reading your double page i can get an insight into the drum and bass scene and slightly understand how things are for upcoming people.


2) What do you think about the colour themes for each page of my media product?

The colour schemes are very suitable, they create a feeling and create different moods for each page. There is a dark and yellow page which tells us enter with caution and these upcoming talents come from dark and risky backgrounds and put in everything they have, on the other hand there are very bright and open pages like the contents page which welcome audiences into not feeling intimidated with dark colours.


3) What do you think about my front cover including the imagery, text and layout?

I think the front cover is very attractive, i listen to drum and bass quite often and the text describes the feeling very well. It has been chosen carefully, i can tell this by the style and pace of the font and it suits the music genre very well. The imagery is very nice because it focuses on one person, it looks very inspiring to follow this person and learn more about him.

I do think it looks very busy and cramped though, some parts of the cover look too busy, this is the only negative point about the front cover.


4) What do you think about my double page spread including the imagery, text and layout?

The double page spread is my favourite part of your media product, the crime tape and dark colours make a very gloomy and interesting atmosphere. It makes me personally want to read on, it has been edited very well and looks just like any magazine i would view in a shop.


5) What do you think about my contents page including the imagery, text and layout?

The contents page looks very high tech, this does match drum and bass quite perfectly because there is a lot of technology involved with music. I like the way there are pictures for each page description, this makes it less boring to read and keeps me attracted to following your magazine.


6) Who would you say was the target audience for my music magazine if you didn’t already know?

I would guess that anyone who likes drum and bass is a target audience for your magazine and these are usually teenage boys and girls and sometimes the older people who listened to it in when they were teenagers too. This would be males under the age of 40 mainly.


7) Do you get a deeper insight into this music genre from looking at my media product?

By reading your double page spread i can understand how hard it is to become known in the drum and bass music industry and it is inspiring to see people trying to follow their footsteps. I think this music genre will rapidly expand in the upcoming years.


8) How often would you like my media product to be released?

I think the magazine is an awesome idea and a lot of things happen in music scenes, therefore i think if you was to make a new magazine each month a lot of people would be interested to hear new rumors and happenings.


9) How much would you be willing to pay for a purchase of my media product?

I think your magazine is just as good as any professional magazine so i would be willing to pay as much as they are, this would range up to £4.


10) If you could improve anything on my media product what would it be?

I would make the front cover less busy and include a little bit more of the interview on the double page, this would definitely improve your media product a lot.

I have taken a look into some other drum and bass magazines and i have realised they all are all very lively and action filled, mostly containing someone in action on the front cover on their DJ decks with perhaps a vinyl in most cases is displayed somewhere. The main reason magazines of this kind are always displayed like this is to show us they are having a good time spreading the word around to promote their passion.




This is a magazine double page spread i have explored, as you can see the first page usually contains a big scaled picture which will indicate the matter of the subject. In this case it looks as if it is promoting a pop group "Black eyed pea's" regarding fashion. The second page is always bundled with information which will often tell a story to give a deeper insight into the subject involved with the double page.

The main colour scheme for this double page spread involves a range of golds, whites, creams and blacks. These colours all contrast very positively together because they are all light, creamy and relaxing colours which don't instantly jump in your face and irritate you.

The first thing i see when i look at this double page is the man who is contrasted the most with the bright golden garments, this is purposely done to attract his absense to the audience. This could only indicate he is the leader of the pop group or has a higher status than the others. Secondly i see the text "will he wont he" displayed below, i instantly think this double page has something to do with him.

The main thing i think which keeps this double page spread active and lively is the text on the right side which doesn't shock me when i look at it. It is very well sectioned and looks as if it isn't too much to read, there are a lot of bold parts which are questions from an interview. These act as checkpoints for a more impatient reader which will stop someone from wanting to walk away from reading the interview.

This is the magazine cover for a Drum and bass magazine and they have decided to call it ATM Worldwide. Personally i think this magazine is aimed at the Teenagers and middle aged men and women aged 15-30 simply due to the very modern and street style design.

If you take a look at the cover the first thing which captures your eye is the music producer, he is simply looking down suggesting he is an icon in the drum and bass scene. The magazine designer is trying to give us the message that it is very hard to reach the top of the drum and bass music scene.

You can clearly see the school has purposely tried to make the cover appeal to young people aged 15 to 30 by giving a very grimey street theme. You can see this from looking at the front cover that the colours are very in your face, bold and have an impact. There is a lot of red involved in this front cover which in this case is connoting heat and danger.

By taking a look at the text it is very technical looking. It is aimed at young people who have a creative mind, young people are often interested with graffiti and creative designs.

The word 'Eksman' has been made bold. This obviously means they want us to focus on the word, the main thing they could be suggesting to us is he is very important above any other artists in the music scene, this is another reason for him looking down into the camera.

By looking at the magazine cover you can see the Image layout is very basic, tidy yet affective. Their main aim is to promote the well known artist they are displaying on the front of their magazine cover, this is evident to us by the bold writing and the way they have displayed him posing to us. The backdrop is completely red giving a subliminal message that he is the only aspect we should be focusing on. On the other hand they could be suggesting that he has come from hell to get to where he is using red which connotes this perfectly.