2. Question 1 In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
3. My music magazine has connotations of a typical hip hop magazine. My inspiration in creating this magazine in this way is the vibe magazine “the sex issue” with usher on the front cover as the focal point. The main reason that I like this particular magazine to be my starting point was that it had a large and bold masthead being covered by the main focal point, this is a key connotation of the hip hop genre by suggesting that the magazine is well known and will automatically be recognised. I have used a dark and plain background to contrast with the masthead brightening it so it can be seen.In my music magazine I have varied the size of my fonts to emphasise the importance of particular words in the magazine .My main image is a typical pose for a hip hop artist as it shows arrogance due to the slight tilt of the head. My main artist is looking strait at the camera to involve the reader through direct address. As you can see my artist is wearing a large watch as well as rings to suggest that he is wealthy, with the aid of mise-en-scene the readers can identify the character of the artist. in the hip hop culture wearing jewellery or “bling” is a sign of success.
4. My mast head is inspired by many hip hop music magazines e.g. vibe which uses a simple font which stands out because it has a contrasting background which enables the mast head to stand out even more, this makes it look is a typical convention of a hip hop music magazine. However in my music magazines masthead I have incorporated a brick look to make it seem more urban and relate to the target audience and the genre of the music. The bricks is almost an icon which suggests “urban life” and it aids the recognition of the genre instantly.
5. My contents page is quite different to that of the vibe as it has a editorial to welcome the audience. However the vibe magazine does not, this could represent the artist suggesting that he is dominant and possibly arrogant as well. Both of the magazines have a quite unusual way of writing contents The vibe magazine on the left is quite odd as it only has one picture on the contents page, I have inserted 3 images in my contents page to show a variation of artists My contents page is quite different to that of the vibe magazine because I have incorporated a image of my front cover in the contents as well as a small subscription detail which the vibe magazine lacks due to it being a recognised brand which does not need to advertise itself in other ways but through the “Brand Identity” In the contents page of the vibe magazine it shows
6. A puff is something that sells or boasts your magazine, I have identified that a puff is an key convention on many successful music magazines particularly on hip hop magazines like the source and vibe. I think that my puff is very effective as the “Big Bang” is the biggest thing known to man that has ever existed. To compare something to the big bang is like comparing someone to god which is extremely rare. I have used a black and red combination to present my puff as both the colours compliments each other. I have gone for red as it is a colour which is widely liked by both male and female audiences.
7. Question 2 How does your media product represent particular social groups?
8. In my music magazine I have decided to use young artists to entice the younger audiences. As you can see my artists are wearing quite casual clothes again enticing the younger audiences to buy the magazine as they can relate to them because they have more in common. Having a young artist may even encourage audiences to explore there talents and maybe enter the world of hip hop. I have used a variety of artists with different styles to enable me to attract all different types of people.
9. To attract the older audiences I have used simple standard English in my article to show that there is some sophistication in the hip hop genre, however my main aim was to attract the younger audiences as they are adapting like the world of music and they will be the new face of hip hop, to attract the younger audiences I have used a question and answer(Q&A)structure to make it easier for them to read. This structure is perfect for younger audiences because younger people tend to ask more questions and are more curious about certain things
10. Question 3 What type of media institution may distribute your media product and why?
11. The institution that might want to distribute my media product is IPC. The reason I have picked ipc is that they distribute media across the uk, such as the metro and the sun these two newspaper are that that my audience regularly read they also own NME radio which a large percentage of my audience will listen. I think that ipc is a good distributor of my media product as they are well known across the uk, they are highly skilled in promotions of media products. Also IPC have had many previous experienced with distributing magazines and targeting the right audiences .
12. Question 4 Who would be your audience for your media product
13. This is my reader profile which I have created to give me an idea of what the young audience want from my magazine. By looking at the profile I can tell that the audience are revolving around fashion trends. My audience are updated with technology and use the internet. The age range that my audience is from is between 15-21 I
15. To attract my target audience I have used young artist both male and female aged around the same age as the target audience age range between 15 and 21. In my magazine I have used superlatives such as “Exclusive” the use of superlatives catches the audiences attention and lures them into buying the magazine I have also used a puff in my music magazine which is “the biggest thing since the big bang” this suggests that out of everything imaginable this magazine is the best. It provides all the information you need to know. I think that the puff is memorable to the audience because its short and catchy I have also used a black and red colour scheme to attract my target audience as these two colours are universal and represent both male and female audiences
16. Question 6 What new technologies have you learnt in the process of constructing the product?
17. Blogger A blog is like an online diary where you can post anything you want. When I started the blog I was really confused on how to use it. As days and weeks progressed I began to get the hang of it learning how to upload audio files, videos, images and I also learnt how to edit previous posts. Learning all these things during the production has made me much more confident in using a blog, familiarising myself with blogging I was able to increase my efficiency and also teach others how to use a blog.
18. Adobe Photoshop to create all of my pages in my production I had uses adobe Photoshop. I have had previous experience with Photoshop which made me quite confident in completing the tasks at hand. Using Photoshop during the production meant that I could develop my skills even further. I have learnt many new ways to edit images e.g. The spot healing tool which enabled me to edit imperfections in the artists face’s to make them look perfect.
19. SlideShare Slide share is an online storage site where I could store PowerPoint presentations so that I could upload to my blog. I was very unfamiliar with this site as it was very new to me. During the production I have now learnt to embed slides on my blog. I like slide share because it saves a lot of space on my blog pages
20. Edirol This is the Edirol which I used to record the responses to my ideas for the music magazine onto, for my research
21. Microsoft PowerPoint Microsoft power point was used to create all the power points that I uploaded on my blog as it is very easy to use because I have been using it for more than 7 years I have become very confident over the years with this programme
22. Microsoft word Microsoft word was used to type my main article into because the blog’s spell check is not very clear. Microsoft word is good because it can tell me all the errors that I have created so I can fix them. Microsoft word also has many font styles and sizes. It makes it easier for me to put on my pages later as I would not need to edit it again. I am also confident using Microsoft word due to previous experience
23. Question 7 Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in progression from it to the full project?
26. You can probably see that my Photoshop skills at that time were not that bad when I started because I was not a beginner. Looking back at this work I now realise how much I have improved. I think the key factor that let me down in the preliminary was the structure of the pages I had not thought of anything else but making the artists look good. I feel that I rushed it and was not concentrating on what to write. There is very little text on both of the pages due to the fact that at that time I felt that the more images the better so I gathered images and put them onto the pages to fill the gaps. I feel that I had most of the necessary skills during the preliminary task but did not apply them.
27. I think that I have improved massively in comparison to my preliminary task in terms of composition and layout. I feel that I have only succeeded because I have not rushed the task like the preliminary. In the contents page I have used 3 images instead of 1 like the preliminary to show all the varying artists that exist I think that the I have actually thought about the artists and how I will make them stand out . I have also thought about how I am going to sell my magazine to the audience using by using a puff
28. I feel the way I communicate to the audience has improved since my preliminary task by a mile as I have now understood what words I should use and also how to put them across to the audience I have also used many more conventions in my final magazine production because of the fact that I studied and researched some of the typical conventions of a music magazine we learnt in class in more depth
