2. Audience
•
The audience for my magazine will be teenagers and young adults between the ages of
16 and 25 who are both male and female, but mostly male because the type of
language that is used in hip-hop songs is male referenced and relates to the issues that
a lot of men go through.
•
Also, the young people of this age will currently listen to radio stations such as Radio1
Xtra and Radio1, and they will also be a part of social media websites such as twitter
and facebook, so it is very important they can relate to my magazine through those
forms of media.
•
Most young adults of this age usually have a part time job in which they gain enough
income to enjoy some leisure time at the weekends, this will mean that students and
young adults wont usually have the funds to buy and expensive magazine, which is why
the price of £1.99 is perfect for the audience because it is still a reasonable price for a
magazine yet it is affordable for the people that are targeted to buy it.
3. How does your media product
represent particular social groups?
4. Representation
•
One way in which my media product represents particular social groups is with the main
image of the star on the front cover of the magazine. The artist is wearing an Adidas hoodie
with the hood up, this has many connotations, the first of which is that he is somebody from
a rough background due to the clothes that he is wearing, he represents the social group of
“chavs” or people from working class backgrounds who wear tracksuits and stereotypically
commit crime.
•
As unorthodox as it is, the main image represents this social group as the ideal readers for
the magazine, because they can relate to the lyrics in the rapper’s songs and also relate to
the stories that will be included in the magazine. Many rappers include lyrics about their
background in their songs and the majority of them are from background like the one I have
just described to you.
•
Also, the cover star looks rebellious with his hood up, this shows that he is not a typical male
rapper and that he is mysterious, which would make the target audience want to know more
about him and also aspire to be like him.
5. What kind of media institution
might distribute your product?
6. Distribution
•
Firstly, it would be best for the magazine if I chose a rival company to distribute my magazine rather than
going for a sister publication. The media institution that would publish my magazine would be IPC Media,
this is because the only music magazine that they produce is NME, which would not be a rival to us
because it is of a different genre and is more mainstream than The Drop This is because there is great
competition for audience in the music magazine industry, especially in the hip-hop genre, so a rival
company such as IPC media would be an asset because it would be a step towards stealing the audience
from other music magazines.
•
Secondly, “The Drop” will be published monthly, this is because although the magazine is hip-hop and has
a broad audience, it is not mainstream as all the people who buy the magazine will have something in
common.
Also, if the magazine is published weekly or fortnightly then the content wont be very good because not
much happens in the hip-hop industry over that period of time and a monthly publication would be able
to have a lot of information crammed into it from the things that have happened over that 4 week period.
My brand is easy to access through tags in the magazine that tell the audience how to connect with “the
drop” through social media like twitter and instagram.
•
7. Distribution
•
NME is one of the most popular music magazines. This is because IPC Media allows it to have
tremendous availability to its audience.
•
It is highly available because of many things, the main one being that it has a ‘digital edition’
that can be purchased from the app store, this is a major asset because print magazines are
going out of fashion now that you can read the news online via social networks. Also, the
target audience of NME are the types of young people who go online a lot and are part of
social networking sites so a digital edition would appeal to them because it would mean that
they don’t have to go out and actually buy the magazine itself, they can have it in their hand
with the press of a button.
8. Distribution
•
The toolbar at the top of NME’s website gives the audience access to things that you
wouldn’t be able to access in a print magazine
•
This gives the audience the usual news the they would find in the print magazine
•
This informs the audience about music festival and ticket dates so they can see their favourite
bands from the magazine perform live, it encourages them to like music more and therefore
buy their magazine
•
This gives the audience the opportunity to buy merchandise from the magazine such as band
t-shirts, jumpers, posters
10. In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real media
products?
11. Front Cover
•
The media product that I have created relates to the forms and conventions of
real media products in the magazine industry. Firstly, the front cover adheres
to the typical conventions that you would associate with a magazine front
cover – there is a masthead, a large main image that dominates most of the
page, anchorage text to go with the pictures, buttons to grab the reader’s
attention and a strapline at the top to tell the reader about any more special
content inside the magazine.
•
Also, the front cover challenges a main convention of a music magazine, with
the picture not being as large as you would expect it to be in order to add in
more information about the magazine’s content, the picture is still very large
and takes up the majority of the page but not taking up the full page like the
“VIBE” front covers shown below, allows more focus to be on the other stories
while still maintaining a high level of interest from the audience.
12. Contents
•
The contents page that I created also adheres to the typical conventions of a magazine contents page. This is because the cover story is
highlighted by another large picture of the cover star with a quote next to him, this shows that this is the most important story in the
magazine and that the reader should be made aware of that.
•
Also, the page number next to the story which indicates where it can be found in the magazine is the largest of its kind on the page,
again this is to show the importance of the cover story and that it is not to be overlooked. Another typical convention of a music
magazine contents page is smaller pictures, these give the audience a better insight into what they are about to read and also they
attract more attention to their adjacent tags or stories, whereas without a picture the reader may have got bored and merely skimmed
through the contents page without taking in all of the information.
•
Furthermore, the fact that it is in fact a contents page needs to be made clear, the page needs to have an attractive header reading
“contents” and as shown in the top right corner of the page on my contents page, my magazine has done that, it is clearly distinguished
that it is a contents page. Finally, one of the main conventions of a contents page is that there are main stories and then there are the
smaller stories with smaller text and that aren’t that important because they are in the magazine every week, my magazine has
highlighted this and put in its own weekly columns in the bottom corner of the contents page in order for it to look like an actual music
magazine.
13. Double Page Spread
•
Much like the other pages in my magazine, my Double page spread also adheres to the typical forms and
conventions of that in an actual magazine. For example, there is a large image of the artist being interviewed, he
looks in control and calm, much like any other hip-hop artist would look like, so it is very realistic, also, it looks as if
he is leaning against the text box, which connotes that he has an “I don’t care” attitude that is arrogant like a real
rap artist.
•
Furthermore, linking to the text are pull-away quotes that interest the reader because it encourages them to read
ahead by giving them small bits of information from text in the midst of the article, which would mean that they
would have to read the rest in order to find out more about the quote in the larger writing.
•
Also, the title of the article is simply the Artist’s first name, this implies that everyone who reads the article will
know who he is and won’t need a second name. finally, at the beginning of the article there is a large letter to
begin the text, this indicates where to start reading for the audience and looks professional, also it is one of the
main conventions of text in a magazine so it is vital that the letter is included in the article
15. Attracting the Audience
•
I attracted my audience in many ways. Firstly, the colour scheme first catches their eye
because the background of the front cover is a light blue colour and the masthead and
text is jet black, this makes the text stand out and makes it clearer to read from afar, so
when you walk past it in a shop it is likely to grab your attention.
•
Also to do with the colour scheme, the Masthead has a blue glow to it and is
surrounded by a blue bevel of the same colour, this makes the masthead seem as if it is
coming out of the page and makes it very interesting to look at, further intriguing the
reader. Another way in which I attracted the audience was a button with a prize on it
“WIN DRAKE TICKETS” is in large capitals against a black background on a button
16. Attracting the audience
• Also, the front cover attracts the audience’s attention because the star’s
eyes are in the top third of the page, this immediately makes contact with
the reader and draws their attention towards the magazine.
• Also, the unique selling points on the cover are clearly defined, the tagline
to the main image is right across the star’s chest and the other anchorage
text is in clear, bold and black with a blue glow, which is eye catching and
interesting.
17. Addressing the audience
•
In my magazine the text addresses the audience in an informal manner to convey
the style of magazine. The music magazine I have created “the drop” is a hip hop
magazine and if the writing was formal then it wouldn’t connect with the audience
I the way that I hope informal writing will. This is because informal writing portrays
the target audience, people who listen to hip hop music are usually young people
who wear informal clothes and write in “text speak”.
•
I believe that this style of writing will interest the audience the most because it’s
informal style connotes a relaxed atmosphere throughout the whole magazine.
18. What have you learnt about
technologies from the process of
constructing this product?
19. Fireworks
• During the process of making my magazine I have used a variety of
software to construct the different features of the magazine.
• Firstly, I used Fireworks to construct the masthead, the subheadings, the
buttons and the taglines, this is because it is very easy to use and the
effects that you can put on the text are much better than those that you
can use on publisher or photoshop.
20. Publisher
• Secondly, I used Publisher for the majority of the project because it
is the easiest to use when it comes to making a publication such as
a magazine.
• The way in which you can plan it out so it’s layout looks like the
actual paper product makes it perfect for the kind of work I was
doing and made it very easy for me to envisage my final product
21. Photoshop
•
I used photoshop to edit the main image of my magazine front cover. I did this
because it maximises the quality of the picture and your are able to edit the
picture to different colours via the tool bar.
22. Looking back at your preliminary
task (Aquinas College Magazine),
what do you feel you have learnt in
the progression to the full
product?
23. Front Covers
• This is my first initial flat plan of my magazine front cover, as you can see
the plan is very basic and consists of just the typical magazine
conventions.
24. Front Covers
•
This is the front cover of the college magazine that I created. As shown, it shows the simple codes and conventions of a front
cover of a magazine with things such as a big main image, a large masthead that stands out against the background, a button
with a competition on it and taglines and anchorage text to interest the reader even further. There are also connotations on
the front cover, one of them being that the person in the main image is looking away from the camera in an intuitive manner
which implies conversation, which will make the audience want to read the interview inside to see what she is saying
•
But also the front cover is clearly very basic, there is far too much space between the pieces of text and makes it look bland
and boring. Also, the colour scheme is very dry, it doesn’t grab the attention of the audience at all and the background is
too plain.
25. Front Covers
•
This is my final magazine front cover from the project. As you can see there has been a vast improvement
from the previous attempts. Not only has the text become more clear and more attractive, but it is also a
lot more organised, it is compact yet the writing is clear to read against the background. Also, the
masthead is a lot more developed than the other ones are. This is because I used fireworks on this
attempt because it gives you the largest variety of effects on your text. It is very clear and the glow makes
it stand out to the eye of the audience. Also, the main image is more effective than the other ones
because it is a full image of the star with the anchorage text across his body which clearly defines that it is
relating to him. Also, the colour scheme is consistent yet it still makes all aspects of the text, including the
buttons, stand out.
26. Contents Pages
•
From doing the original contents planning task for the Aquinas Magazine, I have learnt that there are
many conventions that must be included for the contents page to fulfil its potential. For example, as you
can see in the Aquinas magazine contents page, the text is very boring an plain, so this had to be changed
for the final contents page, this meant doing the text on fireworks so that it would catch the reader’s
attention.
•
Also, the images on the contents page need to be much clearer as to what piece of text they relate to, so
that the audience can understand them more easily and relate to the idea of the text faster without
having to figure out which piece of text the picture went with.
27. Double Page Spreads
•
I did lots of research on double page spreads from magazines like my own, for example, I
evaluated a double page of an interview with the rapper Drake to find out what I needed to
include in it.
28. Double Page Spreads
•
This is my final double page spread piece from the magazine I created, as you can see it has the same
codes and conventions as the Drake double page spread, with the large image relating to the text and the
pull out quotes to give the audience a clue as to some of the content, also, there is a large letter at the
start of the text to indicate the beginning of the text I didn’t know this at first when I started making the
magazine but I became aware of it through my research of the Aquinas magazine and of the Drake double
page spread.
