This document discusses how the media product, a magazine called Slant, uses and develops conventions of real hip hop/R&B magazines. Some conventions it follows include using flashy poses, limited bold colors like red and blue, props associated with hip hop like bling and baggy clothing, and a masthead overlapped by the main artist. The magazine challenges conventions by featuring a female artist rather than male and using a calmer expression rather than an intimidating one. Overall, the document examines the balance of conforming to and innovating beyond typical magazine conventions for the genre.

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

2. Similarities with Slant magazine and other magazines All three magazines look flashy and ‘gangster’ like because of many aspects including the poses. None of them look sensible and sophisticated but rather intimidating. This is a Hip-Hop/R&B magazine and so the artists all look very ‘gangster’ like as these two genres are usually represented as being gangster. They do not look like they have a calm sophisticated or mature expression as it is not a soul/jazz magazine but instead have they have a tough, arrogant and somewhat intimidating expression, we can see this in their face, posture and props. There is a limited amount of colours used in each magazine with maximum of three colours as most Hip-Hop/R&B magazines stick to using three colours. Using lots of colours would make it more rock and using low tone colours that do not really stick out would not suit this genre of music but rather Soul/Jazz music and so sticking to three colours suits the genre best. The colours used in these magazines are slightly bright. They have a white background to keep the image being the main focus, black typography and one other bright colour for the typography to make it stand out but not look over the top, this is usually red or blue. The props used in each magazine reflect very well the target audience the magazine is aimed at. The way the artists are dressed and the ‘bling’ suggests it is for a young audience, mainly teenagers. There is a fair amount of cover lines used in each magazine, this is so that they attract the target audience by informing them in what is included in the magazine as they will only buy it if they see something they are interested in or if it includes an artist/band they like. Using a lot of cell lines is suitable for the genre and the target audience.

3. Differences between Slant magazine and other magazines Compared to my magazine these magazines are very different in many ways, they contradict the type of magazine I have used. Firstly the props are very different to the props in my genre of music, in these magazines they are dressed very formal and sophisticated whereas my artist is dressed in baggy clothing looking gangster like and wearing chains which no model is in these magazines. Secondly the artists expressions look calm and mature which is completely different as my artist looks intimidating and very youthful. Furthermore the models here are of a older age bracket suggesting it is for an older audience whereas my artist is a young model suggesting it is for the younger audience. The colours used here are slightly different. Yellow and cream seems to be used a lot more as they are colours that represents calmness and is seen as sophisticated. Although my genre of music also uses red, blue and black it seems to stand out more in my genre of magazines as it is made bold and even brighter whereas here they use doll tone colours and so does not look as bright.

4. Comparisons Although these two magazines are of the same genre they are still very different to some extent, the way they are portrayed is different. The Source magazine looks very intimidating, dangerous and not very pleasant, especially as the image is large and it is focused on his face only which shows his expression clearly, he looks as though he is disgusted. The pose of him holding his chin represent him as being dominant and powerful within the music industry. Also the use of the colour red again suggests danger and blood which goes well with the pose. The front cover as a whole looks very intimidating. My Slant magazine represents the model as being youthful and although slightly looks intimidating because of the pose and the baggy clothing still looks approachable as she has a slight smile rather than a pose that connotes danger. The colour mostly used in my magazine is blue which connotes youthfulness and is seen as more calm than red. In my music magazine I have used a female artist although it is usually male artists that are seen posing for a Hip-Hop/R&B magazine, this is another difference between the two magazines.

5. Colour The main colours of my music magazine are black blue and white. I chose these colours as I thought they go very well together and stand out, also as they are all unisex colours and will attract everyone. Most magazines usually use a maximum of three colours especially for R&B/Hip-Hop magazines as they are meant to be kept rather simple. I have kept the background white as most Hip Hop magazines have a white background with the image of the artist large, again keeping it simple. The typography of my magazine is black and blue as usually in Hip-Hop magazines they use black and one other colours which tends to be either red or blue as these colours are unisex and so will attract both genders.

6. Props The way my artist is posing is also conventional as you can see in the XXL magazine the artist is posing in a similar way My magazine is quite similar to other hip hop/ R&B magazines through the use of props. In my magazine I have used hoodies, bling, make up, studio equipment and baggy clothing. All of these are conventional to hip hop/R&B magazines as these are what you usually see in a magazine of that genre .

7. Masthead My masthead is slightly simple as I have used a simple font with solid colours as usually Hip Hop/R&B magazines have a simple bold masthead as shown with the vibe mastheads. I rotated the ‘L’ as it goes with the name ‘SLANT’ as in slanted and then I filled it in white, different from the rest of the masthead. I did this to dramatise the whole idea of it being slanted. I also added the image of my main artist to overlap the masthead which makes my magazine conventional as usually that is what you see in other magazines. It also makes it seem as though it is a well known famous magazine that people will be able to recognise it even though it is being covered.

8. Main Image This is the image I used for my front cover. I used this image as I thought it went well with the genre Hip-Hop/R&B and was conventional through the use of the chain, the way she is posing and the hoody. Also as this image portrays power, confidence, high status and success which are representations usually used in music magazines such as Hip-Hop and R&B. The use of the tilted head suggests arrogance which is another representation commonly used.