2. In what ways does your product use, develop
or challenge forms and conventions of real
media products?
Inspirations
My front cover
• My front cover uses some of the conventions of the VIBE magazine
covers above. One of those are the masthead, I used the positioning of
the masthead in on my cover because it makes the masthead look
powerful and immediately establishes part of the colour theme.
• I also used the positioning of the subject on my cover, I used a mid- 1st draft
shot so that the subject is visible from waist upwards & the positioning
so that the subjects head is slightly covering the ‘A’ part of the
masthead.
• Another convention I that inspired me from the VIBE magazine was
the strap line above the masthead which includes some of the artists
names that are included in the magazine.
• I made several changes to my front cover from my 1st draft. I made
these changes because my 1st draft looked tatty and un-professional.
One of the main changes I made was the removal of the photo-shop
white background and the placing of a light background but it is part of
the picture; I done this so I don’t have to worry about cutting around
the subject risking it to not going right, I also did this so that the light
in the image doesn't look uneven . Final page
• I also removed the banner going across the subject as it looks although
it doesn’t belong.
3. In what ways does your product use, develop
or challenge forms and conventions of real
media products?
Inspirations
My contents page
• My contents page gained some forms and conventions from some real
music magazines. One of those is the theme which is Black, White &
Grey, the page is dominantly white, black is the next most popular
colour, leaving grey which is used the least. I made the colour white
most dominant so that the page contrast from the VIBE one used for
inspiration.
1st draft
• Another convention that was inspired by the VIBE contents page was
the posture & positioning of the subject on the page, a close up shot is
used so that the subjects face is the main focus of the image, I then
changed the colour contours of the subjects face to make it black &
white to suit the theme, this convention was always inspired by the
VIBE contents page above however I developed it by making the face
more white than black differing from the original form which is more
black than white.
• The table of contents used in my contents page was again a convention
that was inspired by THE SOURCE contents page above although I
developed it by making it darker and putting a missing slot on the top
for heading space. Final page
• I also used the ‘Master plan’ heading from THE SOURCE magazine,
however I made a slight few changes to develop the heading I changed
the font and I also changed the positioning and spacing of the letters to
create a join in the ‘ster’ & ‘plan’.
4. In what ways does your product use, develop
or challenge forms and conventions of real
media products?
Inspirations
My double page-spread
• Some of the forms & conventions on my double page spread were taken
from the VIBE page above. One of those were the main image of the
subject which is a low angled shot which makes the subject look bigger and
stronger than any other angle; however the shot used in the VIBE page is
lower than mine and is a longer shot than mine as mine is from slightly 1st draft
below the waist not slightly above the ankles. I also used the form of the
text, the way that the paragraph goes around the subject in my page.
• Another convention that I used on my front cover is that the breaking of the
page goes through the subject as they are directly in the middle, this
slightly differs from the VIBE page as they’re subject is moved slightly to
the left of the centre.
• I made many changes to my cover since the first draft, these include 2nd draft
changes to he layout, story & image. The main reason I made changes to the
layout is because I needed to have more writing on my page & I had to
change the story to allow me to extend the length of it. I changed the image
so that I could have a more vibrant image as the one used in the 1st draft is
to dark for the page I intended on having.
• Since my 2nd draft I have also made a few slight changes. Firstly I removed
the small boxes used to outline the text from the corners, giving me more
space for text to fill. I also made the text into large paragraphs and Final page
increased the size of the text to fill in the empty space. In addition I
changed the colour of the heading & column heading to black so they stand
out, lastly I increased the size of the heading and made it go across the
majority of the top of the page.
5. How does your media product represent social groups?
• My media production represents the social groups of teenage boys mainly
those that have interest in rap music & it represents them by showing how
they like to be seen & how they like to be seen by the media, however it
doesn’t show how the media see’s them.
• The media is a very bias industry and it takes assumptions on things that
aren’t entirely true. In this case teenage boys, the media mostly displays
them as antisocial, troublesome gang bangers yet in reality only a small
minority of them fit these assumptions. In addition to that rap music has
been associated with some of these assumptions due to the media such as
gangs and thug life.
• My magazine doesn’t represent the same teenage boys as the media like to
betray yet it represent those who are trying to be successful and are putting
in their utmost effort to do so, this is supported by the story of my double
page spread which is about how the artist ‘Trigzie’ got up & coming and the
struggles he and his family went through prior to his success.
6. What kind of media institution might distribute your
media product and why?
• The media institution I would use to publish my magazine would be Inter Media.
• One reason I would use Inter Media because they are a large company that publishes magazines to a world
wide audience. Another is because they publish magazines that RAPUBLIC is similar to and I think
would attract my target audience such a VIBE magazine.
• Inter Media could also help me to advertise and distribute my magazine as they are a large and successful
company and have the money and popularity to do so.
• Due to the success of the VIBE Rap/Hip-hop magazine, if Inter Media advertised my Rap/Hip-hop
magazine, many audiences would instantly be attracted including my target audience.
• Inter Media also has the ability to put my magazine on the shelves of main super markets and smaller
supermarkets not only in the UK but in the USA as well. I would use retail shops as my main distribution
method as it is the most popular source of magazines and it’s the most likely place my target audience
would look when intent on purchasing. However I would also use another method along side retail; the
internet. I would use the internet because it would be the second place my target audience would look, if
they couldn’t find my magazine in the shops or maybe the first place if they saw it advertised then took
interest and because the internet has a international audience it gives a good possibility of gaining
customers from countries that are out of my main focus (UK and USA). The internet would also allow me
to have my magazine online as a visual magazine. This would be a great way of distribution as my target
audience are young people and they are more likely to purchase and read my magazine if it were from the
comfort of their homes. Also online visual magazines is a new technology so by using it I would be keeping
updated and in comparison with other magazines.
7. Who would be the audience for your media product?
• The target audience for my magazine would be boys and girls
between the ages of 13 – 21, who are inspired by Rap/ Hip-hop
music and/or would like to keep updated about the past, present
and future events within the current popular rap industries; plans of
the most talked about artists and the successfully coming up artist of
today.
• Their could be others that are interested in the magazine, they may
be older or younger than my target. however my main target
audience will be the above audience, as I believe that they would
have the highest popularity of interest in that genre of music and the
focuses of the magazine of the magazine in which includes some I
previously mentioned.
8.
How did you attract your audience?
• My audience is boys and girls aged 13 – 21 that are interested Rap/Hip-hop music.
• As my audience are fans of the genre the first thing I did to attract them is use the
names of well known artist within the genre of music.
• Secondly I created a logo that looks similar to the one used by the VIBE magazine,
this would attract my audience as many of them would have seen, known about and
recognise VIBE and its logo so they my gain a good impression of RAPUBLIC.
• Another concept I used to attract my audience, is the clothing of my subject this is
mainly used on the front cover as it would be the first thing they see. In the image my
subject (Trigzie) is dressed in a similar way you would expect a rapper to dress. He is
also wearing a jumper that has his artist name on it this would instantly give the
reader tell the reader the impression that he is someone with a certain ‘swagger’ or
class about him.
• I also used a colour theme on the front cover to attract my audience. I used a bright
vibrant colour to catch their eye and I used the more mature colour to balance out the
other colour so they don’t think that the magazine is for young children.
9. What have you learnt about technologies from the process
of constructing this product?
• I firstly learnt that technology plays a large roll in the production of magazines and
without technology magazines would not be as they are today.
• The technologies I used in the production of my magazine is a 14 mega-pixel camera,
a Apple I Mac and a HP laptop, these were used for the production of my images, the
editing of the images produced and the construction of my magazine.
• I used technology to process and construct my magazine, the main program I used
was adobe photo shop, this is a design program which can also be used for the editing
of visual media.
• I learnt many technological skills in the process of making my magazine, such as
different types of shots to establish different effects, how to use the clamp tool for an
air brushed effect, how to use adobe lighting room to make images appear more
vibrant and colourful than before, how to use the selection and magic wand tool to a
good extent and how to make text box paragraphs outline an area or subject of a page.
10. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you
have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
• Looking back at my preliminary task I feel I have learnt so much.
I have learnt how to properly construct a magazine front cover,
contents page and double page spread. I learnt which camera
shots I should use to create different effects on the reader for Front cover
example a low angled shot to make the subject look powerful and
strong. I learnt about the forms and conventions of a magazine
mainly music and I also learnt how to put them into practise.
• Looking at the front cover of my preliminary task there is a lot I
would change. Although its not a music magazine I believe that it
is still meant to have a left hand or right hand third which I
would now include. I would also make the subject look towards to
camera and took the shot from a much lower angle to make the
subject look more powerful and iconic.
• Looking at the contents page of my preliminary task there is also
a lot I would change. I would of used less images and made them
Contents page
larger, this would take up a lot of the empty space and made the
page look more attractive. I would write more in the contents
table about what is on each page and I would use a more creative
contents table to maintain the audiences attention.
