2. Introduction I have designed a Music Magazine containing a Front page, contents page and an Article. I completed this project on my own by researching, different types of genres in music magazines.
3. Q1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real products? The music magazine that are sold out to their target audience all follow specific conventions, to have a success. Even though I would want my magazine to be unique and new compared to the other music magazine which also consider the popular music genre, I still have to consider the music magazine conventions in order it to sell. As for my target audience I will have to follow certain conventions to full fill my audience expectation . This is an example of a conventional RnB and Hip Hop magazine, which is very bold and harsh looking, everything is bold. Music magazine Conventions include: A bold catchy title and image that we associate with the magazine. The colour scheme which appear in all the magazine. Informal way of addressing to the audience and an inspirational celebrities included as a selling point. Also to have a front cover and contents page which grabs the target audiences attention. To sell the magazine, different colours professional looking photography etc.
4. I chosen to make a RnB/Hip Hop magazine, because I found in my research that it is a popular magazine but it is always targeted to male and female or mainly male audience. so I would like to create a magazine just for females, teenagers to be specific. Here are some magazines similar to what I wanted to give a clear idea of the convections I would use. I followed:... As you can see, both these magazine follow specific music conventions. They both are eye catching. Bold and colour coded, although both have different type of colours. Vibe is more of bold and Hip Hop style, making it clear who there audience is and Blender has more of a feminine style, bright colours and looking pretty and fresh. Also it clearly shows who they are targeting toso I would have to put the two to get what I want and clearly show who I target and how I target them.
5. Even though it is Important to follow magazine conventions, its vital for a magazine to have it’s unique way of selling it. That’s why I would want mine to be unique My unique selling point (USP) was to create something different in my magazine, another way to present an RnB and Hip Hop magazine. To make a different music magazine firstly I have to follow the convention but to add a twist to make it different, and by doing this, I had to make sure that I have to target it to females, by doing this I will have to put fashion and latest gossip about celebrities. UNIQUE SELLING POINT
6. I chose these two different type of music magazine because I felt that they will be popular with my target audience, combining the two genre together to make it more mainstream, which is what the music industry are doing. All have bold taglines to grab the audience attentions Both have Bold title and colour combination The both have a different colour background.
7. How my works follow /challenges convention Front page Typical music magazine Typical music magazine The title are eye-catching . And different. My magazine Icon Female/Male A median close up of the Icon. Looking bold and strong. Attention grabbing colour scheme and interesting taglines. Barcode and price
8. As you see in slide 7. I have used to different type of magazine to show the music magazine conventions that are used I had to make sure I kept my magazine girly because it targeted at females but from the vibe magazine I had to use the bold side of the magazine to bring out the Hip Hop. My Magazine: Front page In BLENDER, the magazine is more feminine and very girly. That’s what I would want in my magazine. In VIBE, the magazine conventions are bold and sharp colours. Which I have taken from the magazine and going to use in mine.
9. Contents Page Typical music magazine contents page Typical music magazine contents page My Contents page The heading stands out. My Magazine: Contents Page. Both the typical magazine conventions that are shown are the ones that I have used to design my own. The background are one simple light/dull colour Three columns in each of the Contents page. The text is small and plain black font. Easy to read The same icon/model shown on the front page.
10. Typical music article Typical music article A title of the artist that the article is about. Simple layout, no fancy text or complicated to read. Also columns structure is three per page. My article Image of the artist a typical convention, which you will find in every article. Highlighted text. Important text from the article.
11. Audience feedback The rest of my audience feedback , informed me that my magazine was actually successful and that my audience would like read more of it. Here are some of the comments I received whilst doing my questionnaire. I asked my target audience some specific question for my audience feedback. “The title defiantly says it a music magazine” “The model is quite good looking, ill so buy that” In my questionnaire, I asked my target audience that what genre do you think my magazine is? And here are the showings.
12. Q.2. How does your media product represent particular social groups? Social groups are often shown as a stereotype from the media. (Example: Black guy doing Hip Hop.) This is shown by, television, radio, newspaper and in ma case, magazine. In my magazine I have two social groups: . Celebrities- In my print product, it’s features male artists named “Kazzi” . . Young Man an Women- my magazine features an important male on my pages but also some other pictures on females, to show that my product reflects on two social groups. (Even though my magazine is targeted to young females only.) The overall group that my magazine represents is RnB/Hip Hop, girls. I believe this stereotype I have chosen is commonly associated with many music industry.
13. Firstly Hip Hop are clearly stereotype, as being Male Gangsters. Especially in the UK, society e.g. Manchester. At one point people feared gangsters, but over the years these stereotype have evolved in to being cool and admirable even a role model. Fashion has also changed, and these two social stereotype are both very current in today’s society. Hip Hop in today society, wear a lot heavy jewellery, as you can see. Also we have women Gangsters. As you can see in this picture she looks tough and more physic. Also in the Hip Hop world, graffiti is very important, in city like Manchester you will see graffiti, done by gangster’s. Gangsters are known to be tuff, fierce less, as you can see this image of a rapper is holding a gun, showing that he is not scared of no one.
14. Secondly, RnB artist stereotype, because I’m doing both these popular genre. RnB artist are stereotyped in a different way compared to Hip Hop rappers. RnB artist are stereotyped by their image, example Beyoncé being the ideal women for every men, all women should be like her. Women: RnB Artists: Minimal clothing: They have very little clothing on and their stomachs are on show all the time, this is because to attract the male audience and make them think that it is desirable. Hair and makeup: They always have different hairstyles which are eye-catching. Also their makeup are also bold and are usually their eye makeup. That is why teenagers are make-up crazy and like to follow the eye-makeup these celebrities wear. Heels: you see Female RnB artist wearing heels in majority of the songs to make their longs look long. Some RnB wear trainers in their videos for choreographed scenes. Jewellery:They were very bold jewellery, earrings are usually build and bold and necklaces. Men: RnB fashion they are stereotyped by their fashion, you will see: Topless:Majority of the videos of the artist you will see them topless to attract the opposite sex, even though they target this to teenage girls male audience tend to copy. Jeans:If the artist is topless then they always wearing jeans quite low, showing their boxers which you see teenage boys doing the same. Tattoos:A lot of RnB artist have tattoos on their arms or chest. They also have multiple tattoo not just the one. Jewellery: unlike the males in hip hop, RnB males were less jewellery like a watch a ear ring, ring or a chain. So this is how a male RnB artist is stereotyped in the media.
15. In my magazine I represent both these stereotype in a positive way. To fit in these stereotype and also to make sure that people who are interested in theses stereotype and even don’t care but to find something good to read about theses stereotypes and music genre. On all my pages, represent a RnB male and female. On my front page I use a male RnB artist to represent my artist through photography: lighting, costume and poses. The main guy is dressed in a fairly typical RnB style. Qasim dressed in black because he believe it would make him look bold and strong, like an RnB/ Hip Hop star would like to look like. His poses wear unique in it’s own way. He new how to pose, weren’t camera shy at all. I also to decide a duet of two RnB star by representing them by using two females. Aleena and Hafsa. They both wore different out fit to the photo shoot. Hafsa wore black like Qasim because she wanted to stand out and make hair look bold. Aleena on the other hand represented a female RnB by wearing a colour full outfit and wearing an main accessory like big glasses.
16. In these picture that are shown and seen in the double spread sheet. They done in a studio, professionally and there are different type of lighting that were used lighting. My models both look edgy and sharp. They wanted to look which they did and the male artist looked bold and strong.
17. Q. What kind of media institution might distribute you media product and why? To be successful, a magazine need to be supported by a good media institution. This is because I need to produce and distribute on the magazine. These institutions that are shown in the right distribute thousands of magazine, even other type of popular media.
18. I would like to distribute my magazine to IPC, because I found in my research that this institution produces over 60 iconic media brands. for magazine they reach up to two thirds of women in the UK- for my magazine, this will be an ideal institution for my magazine because my target audience are females. Another option is Bauer. A German publishing industry that owns magazine like Kerrang. Has a very large audience. Music institution By researching, I found out that 26 billion people read magazine that is distributed by ICP and this shows that they will do a good job publishing my magazine. I would like to distribute my magazine in super market’s, super drugs and HMV, some where were girls would shop and
19. Keeping Grass in mind ( G: gender R: race A: Age S: socio economic (status) Who would be the audience for your media product? Target: socio economic (status) Target Age: The target that I have chosen is 16-20. I believe this age group would be interested in my magazine, because it will have all the key concept of the other music magazine that are being sold out their, like ‘blended’. I have the same idea of this magazine, to include fashion and gossip. Also I believe that this age range would be a success because this is when teenagers care about their looks and to be in the latest gossip and music. The socio-economic, and the target audience would either working or going to college and would be able to have their own money or they be dependent on pocket money from their parents this would not matter much because my magazine will be produced monthly. Target Gender: Target Race: The target Gender that I have chosen are female teenager, because there are magazine that are target to male and female or just males, I like to produce a product for which target to female I don’t have a target race because I don't think the race of the reader would affect my magazine because it is race-free. Primarily there may be a target group that means theirs wont read it. So it targets wider audience.
20. How did you attract/address your audience? I chose this title, because from the questionnaire, my audience voted for this name ‘Booty Blast’ I think it goes perfectly with the page because it is a music magazine and also it’s target to specifically to female so Booty Blast is perfect. I had chosen this font from da.font because I wanted the title not to look girly but also not to feminine. I used a good looking, rough type of model to grab the audience. A well known person which would grab my target audience easily. Made him wear dark colour clothes to stand out on the front page. Which will attract the my audience attention. I also address the audience, by introducing a so-0called artist ‘Kazzi’ making out that he is famous. I also included the taglines like ‘Autumn fashion’ to grasp my audience attention, to latest fashion. Using taglines, to grab my audience attentions. Making them to read more of the magazine, what they would find in the magazine. I also broke the music magazine convention to keep the main celebrity on the front page, but by breaking this I have included another model or two, this idea is from a gossip magazine like ‘Ok’ which will attract my target audience. I have chosen different colours which blend in with each other which stand out a lot. Bright colours which stands out and grabs the target audience. I also used the colours
21. the font is the same as the front page I have chosen this because It will make my audience to carry on reading and also grab their audience. The models are used again in the content page because to addresses my audience that they will be reading about these people. Finding gossip, this will attract my audience attention. the colours that I have chosen should blend with the background. That is why I have chosen to a very pale colour to blend the other dark colours and to make it stand out more, and by this it will attract my target audience attention and addresses them what to find in the magazine. I have used the 3 columns convention to addresses my audience what would find in the magazine and what they would find in the magazine. Used funky writing with the colour black to look bold and eye-0catching. I also decided to keep the blue taglines at the top and bottom because to carry on persuading my audience to read on.
22. I have used both the taglines to make sure that the article looks attractive and not to bear which might bore my audience. The font style is different from the other two pages, it addresses the audience that this is the interview and also introduces the celebrity. i used the three column technique which is suitable for my audience to read. I also put different font colour to make it easier for my audience to read, and to make the layout a lot colourful. The picture are the same. There’s a picture of ‘kazzi’ and picture of him again with other celebrities. I also stuck with the idea with using a quote. This is because it will grab the audience attention . I used this pink tagline to break the interview to another content. To make this page more a light I used a totally different colour as I have done with ‘kazzi’ interview. This is to make it more interesting. Persuasive language .
23. Ideologies In my magazine I have used a lot of positive ideologies about celebrities. They look happy and good in there skin. Not making sure that I send off any negativity to my audience like being to skinny.
24. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? In the process of producing this magazine. I have to used different type of technology, to help me. I used the modern technology in some way…
25. To post my work and update it, I kept online by using BLOGGER.com. Which I updated when I had to. This was helpful because it helped me look back at my work and remind myself what I have to do next, it also kept my work neat, readable and also more organised. I could go back to it whenever and changes things without making a mess of it. Research: I had to used the internet to find out the information I needed for my research. Most of the information that I have collected was from the internet. The advantage was that it was faster and easier to find and read information than from a book. You can’t always rely on the information you find on the internet so you have to make sure the information is valid. Evaluation: I have used other technology such as printers and scanning for my audience feedback. It was an easier way of typing up my questionnaire and printing it out because it was easy for the audience to read it.
26. To plan and create my product I used InDesign, another software that I have never used before. But this one was easier then the Photoshop. I design my magazine pretty quickly. I used this to edit all the pictures that I have took for my magazine. I used Photoshop for the first time. It was extremely useful because it gave my pictures the authentic magazine look. It wasn’t easy to used Photoshop but I got used to it. I think I did a pretty good job editing my picture. I liked all the different effect and look I could do by using this software. I could cut the bits that I didn’t need in the picture. Even though I enjoyed using this software it was the longest time I had used on any software. It took me time to cut the image that I wanted and finally I got the perfect image for my magazine. Overall it was a good software, because it had given me the image I wanted. I used a studio to control the lighting effect. Which was pretty easy once I got the understanding of the lights I was good. Camera was very easy to use, zooming in and out when I needed to.
27. Looking back at you preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full products? Looking back at my two magazine, there is definitely an improvement, even though my finish work isn’t perfect, you still can see the differences. I made my preliminary task very fast, I didn’t have enough practice on the software, so I just did what I could have done. The colours is dull and not enough on it.
28. The title is dull, not enough bright colours. My finish product very different. It has bright colour. Everything is right were it should be. The background is not dull. The model blend perfect with the background. It has taglines which would grab the audience attention. The background is plain and looking bare. The taglines is covering the model. confusing. The model is dull and does not wear an outfit which stands out from the background . The tagline at the bottom does stand. Doesn’t make you want to read it. The issue number would not be there., wrong place. Does not have a price. The barcode would not be there.
29. Conclusion Overall I am very pleased with my final product. It has everything that a magazine should have. Even though I have struggle using some of the technology because they were new to me it was well worth it because I have edited pictures that look perfect on my magazine. The poses of the model was great, making him look bold and big-headed which most of the celebrities are when they have accomplished what they wanted. I went for a mix girly-RnB, Hip Hop look on my front page because of my audience feedback had told me. The whole image looks perfectly together. I did however find it hard to choose a background for my front cover, but I settled it with pink because It blends in with the models outfit. The model represent the RnB style star. Young good looking, bold which is what I wanted to represent. I also like my feature article because to me it seems readable and realistic in what the audience would want to read and find out about any favourite celebrity. However there was some problems overall. It took to long for the pictures to be taken and also it took me ages editing the right picture. Also to write a good articled to be read by the audience. Overall I am very pleased with my article and front page.
