The document provides an evaluation of a 4-page rap magazine media product. It summarizes how the magazine uses conventions of real magazines, such as a masthead, cover lines, issue number, and buttons. It represents the target audience of males aged 17-25 through the featured celebrity, color scheme, and fonts. The magazine would be best distributed online and in stores by Bauer Media to reach a worldwide audience. Photoshop skills were improved in creating the magazine, including cropping, effects, and gradients. Overall conventions were developed while maintaining a professional appearance.

1. EVALUATION

2. In what ways does my media product use, develop or challenge forms
and conventions of real media products?
 My media product is a 4 page magazine, which used and developed a
variety of conventions. I included standard conventions on the cover
page such as the masthead, hook, headline, barcode, issue number,
date, a variety of different quotes and two buttons. Magazine covers
usually only have a single button, however I have decided to develop
this convention and used two of the buttons, which advertise two
separate opportunities, being a give away and music download. This
was done to achieve a higher following of the magazine, as not
everyone enjoys giveaways, yet there is also an exclusive
downloadable album. I also included the conventions of a contents
page, consisting of the page number, masthead consistently on each
page, the contents listed followed by each page number and an image
of the featured celebrity. The feature page included the FloWeekly logo
once again, meaning it was consistent throughout the magazine, which
is conventional in the majority of published magazine.

3. How does my media product represent particular social
groups?
 The research I have carried out on my target audience and music
genre suggests that representation can be important in recognising
stereotypes. The stereotypes can help portray the image of the
celebrity on the front of my magazine. The celebrity featured in my
magazine is wearing a hooded jumper and wearing a snap back
cap. This represents the particular social group that I have targeted
being males age 17-25, which is why the hooded jumper and snap
back style is representative of young males. I believe I have also
represented my social group due to my colour scheme being darker
colours such as black and dark red, contrasted by white. The black
connotes death and the red connotes blood which may represent
the stereotypical view that rappers are violent thugs.

4. What kind of media institution might distribute my media
product and why?
 I would suggest that my magazine should be sold online, due to the fact that my
target audience of males age 17-25 is a current generation that spends multiple
hours a day on the internet. This would also mean that my magazine can be
accessed anywhere at anytime for anyone, meaning my magazine is not limited
to one country and can be sold worldwide. This can also link with the theory of
web 2.0 as people are capable of interacting with one another online and create
their own forums on opinions of the magazine, which help the magazine gain
promotion. A hard copy of my magazine must also be sold in shops however as
not everyone in the world can afford internet connection or devices capable of
accessing internet, meaning the magazine reaches a variety of different class
backgrounds of people. Through research I have completed I have gathered
that magazines such as Q who has been bought by a company called Bauer
Media have become very successful in its distribution and production. Therefore
I would wish to have my magazine bought by Bauer Media in order to help
market my magazine on a larger scale worldwide. Also Bauer Media have
utilised web 2.0 be allowing contact between the creator of the magazine and
buyers through the forums. I believe that this level of communication between
production company and buyer will create a successful relationship between
the two.

5. Who would be the audience for my media product?
 The target audience that my magazine targets is males age 17-25,
who enjoy rap music. Therefore in order to make my target
audience clear I have used darker colours of black and red ,
followed by white to contrast. This colour of black and red is also
very prominent in my chosen music genre, which means my target
audience can identify with them. There can also be a suggestion
that women can read the magazine if they wish, as some females
also enjoy the rap music genre which is why I have included some
lighter colours such as the white.

6. How did I attract/address my audience?
 I attracted my target audience by using the appropriate
stereotypical dark colours that males would typically find
attractive. I have also attracted my audience through the font
I used being sans serif, as the sharp edges suggests
masculinity, which allows my audience of males to associate
with them. I also advertised exclusive offers inside the
magazine using buttons on the front cover, which were
giveaways and exclusive free items. I also made sure my
featured celebrity on my cover page would be relatable to
males age 17-25, therefore I made him male aged 19
wearing a typical male style of a hooded jumper and snap
back hat.

7. What have I learnt about technologies from the process of
constructing my product?
 Throughout the creation of my magazine I have learnt a variety of
different Photoshop skills, that enabled me to make my magazine
more visually attractive. I have learnt to use the magic wand tool in
order to efficiently crop the celebrity image in the magazine, as well
as a saturation effect in order to darken the colour of the image and
even make it black and white. I also leant to use the gradient tool
which made the background of many of the pages of my magazine
look more vibrant and unique in comparison to a single solid colour.
I believe that these skills I have learnt in Photoshop will benefit me
in any creative task I am set in the future, due to my broadened
knowledge of how to use the technology.

8. Looking back at the preliminary task, what do I feel I have
learnt in the progression from the preliminary task to the
full product?
 Looking back at the preliminary task I believe that I
have made significant progression in appearance to
my final cover page of my rap magazine. I have
learnt a wider variety of skills in Photoshop which
has bettered my ability to make my magazine
visually appealing. As well as technological skills,
the preliminary task taught me practical skills such
as time management, which meant when it came to
creating my final rap magazine I allocated the
necessary time required for each page in order to
be sure that I met deadlines and stay organised
and on top of my work. I also managed to use the
preliminary task as inspiration for the conventions I
wanted to use in the main task. The preliminary
task also helped me improve the contents of my
magazine cover page, as the preliminary task
looked visually empty which meant in the main task
I wanted to include more. I also learned valuable
organisation skills as I went along such as naming
layers to ensure I was in full control of everything I
was doing on Photoshop.

9. Conclusion
 The front cover of the magazine was a success as the aim was to
draw attention to my target demographic of young adult, while
including all of the standard conventions required for the magazine
to have a professional appearance. The masthead was at the top of
the page larger than all of the text on the page, this meant attention
is first drawn to it for the demographic. The top of the page also
consisted of the standard issue number and the date of the
magazine below the masthead followed by the website of the
magazine itself. The font size of the website is the second largest
font size on the cover in order to make it seen to the audience after
the masthead. The colour scheme of the front cover followed the
rule of three conventions, of which I chose black, red and white,
consisting of different shades of each. This kept the magazine
looking professional and not be too overwhelming visually to look at
for the demographic. The bottom of the magazine included the
required barcode for purchase of the magazine on a small scale in
order to not be too prominent on the page.

10. Conclusion
 The image appears in the centre of the cover taking up the
majority of the page in order for it to be dominant on the
page. The picture is that of a famous rapper who is featured
on the magazine and has content involving drunk driving on
the features page. The image is a mid-shot and has a grainy,
black and white affect to show the mood and emotions of the
rapper about the incident. The black and white stereotypically
represents sadness and despair, which is perfect for the
representation of the rapper himself. The image itself is also
covered in a variety of quotes about the rapper, which provide
a “sneak peak” of what is inside the magazine, enticing the
demographic to buy the magazine as they wish to read on.
Surrounding the image of the rapper are silhouette images of
rappers and dancers which represent the rappers true
personality, when the emotions of the incident are not taking
over him.

11. Conclusion
 In order to persuade the demographic to purchase
the magazine there are two buttons advertising
exclusives inside the magazine. The first button
included an advertisement for the free download
of the rappers latest album upon purchase, and
the second button advertised an exclusive chance
to win a trip to Las Vegas for the featured rappers
concert. Lastly the bottom of the magazine has a
box involving a preview of the rappers interview
on the drunken driving incident, which is
appealing to the demographic of young adults in
the modern day.

12. Conclusion

The context page has included the conventions, required and expected in a
professional looking magazine. However I have developed these conventions to an
extent as I have tilted the contents titles down the left side of the page using
Photoshop, this develops the existing convention of horizontal text on the page;
however it keeps the contents page looking visually professional, clear and readable.
The media product represents the particular social group target demographic of
young male teenagers, shown through the dark colour scheme which consistently
carried over from the front cover. The right side of the page also shows a famous
rapper who appeals to this target audience, which will entice the reader to continue
on into the magazine and purchase it. The top right of the page shows that the page
is clearly a contents page, allowing for clear navigation for the reader, along with the
date of the magazine and the recurring magazine title. The colour scheme remains
similar to the front cover in order to keep the consistency throughout the magazine.
The colours used were black, white and red which contrast well in order to make the
magazine appear physically attractive. The image of the rapper itself was adjusted in
Photoshop to be a slightly darker shade, in order for the image to look appropriate o
the magazine style and colour scheme, as well as keeping the appearance
professional.

13. Conclusion

The feature page once again followed this same colour scheme of shades of red,
black and white, along with the conventional page number and magazine title to go
along with it. I also included the main feature of the magazine being an interview with
the rapper who appeared both on the front cover and contents page which shows the
importance of the rapper to the target audience. This interview is important to the
magazine as it is one of the main marketing points of the magazine, as the magazine
suggests a reason for purchase is for the “exclusive” interview with the rapper (G-
EAZY). Another feature on this page is a competition that the buyers of the magazine
can enter in order to win a once in a lifetime prize, which helped in the profits for the
magazine as the question provided was intentionally of low difficulty to persuade the
reader to be more inclined to enter. Lastly the page advertised the social media
accounts of the magazine which helps the magazine grow more popular on both
social media and worldwide as social media is a global phenomenon. This allows for
free advertisement from the audience themselves which can be seen as a means of
technological convergence. This is the main reason for the inclusion of the social
media links, as technological convergence is the combination of one or more
technologies, and this is the case with the internet and devices such as phones,
laptops and tablets. Research I have done supports this theory as Richard Sennett
states that “the audience are making their own media”. This was the inspiration for
me including the social media advertisements in order to allows the audience to
spread the magazine all over the internet.