AS Media Studies Music Magazine Evaluation

Matthew Cairns

Question 1Who would be the audience for your

media product?

My target audience is based around teenagers and young adults. My potential reader would be a teenager/young adult who is interested in hip hop music.

This means that they would be interested in reading informal language in an article and would be interested in a non structured cover.

They would potentially wear casual clothing (jeans, t shirt and a hoodie) and would maybe wear trainers and a cap.

Question 2How would you attract/address your

audience?

Banner

Masthead

Features

Main Story

Cover Image

Eye Contact

Price

Bar Code

Cover StarGender:

My magazine is generally aimed at boys but could also attract girls. I showed that my magazine was mainly aimed at boys because I used a boy as my cover star and having my colour scheme as grey, black and red.

Age:

My cover star is aged around the same age that I would want my audience to be so that the audience could relate to the cover star and take inspiration.

Genre:

The cover star represents the genre of the magazine by wearing clothing and standing in a certain position to look like a hip hop star.

Banner: Seen at the top of the page so that it is one of the first things that the potential buyer reads. It shows giveaways and competitions to attract the reader and persuade them into buying the magazine.

Masthead: The words "Hop-Hip" suggest new music as it is a reverse of "Hip-Hop". The white text contrasts with the red background to make it stand out and grab the readers attention.

Features: Draws the audience to read the magazine as it advertises just what exactly is in the magazine and the variety of features that it includes. The main story at the bottom of the list is in a larger font and is a different colour (red) so that it contrasts with the rest of the features and stands out more grabbing the readers attention.

Main Image: Using this main image shows and emphases the main article and draws the reader towards the magazine and its articles.

Heading: The heading “Features” is a larger size font to the rest of the page and is underlined to show the reader exactly what this page is and what it tells you. This draws the reader to look at the different articles and potentially purchase the magazine.

Features: The features on the page have the number as a red colour and the name of the feature coloured in black because these two colours have been used throughout the magazine, especially on the front cover because they contrast each other well and stand out to the audience.

Tab: The tab at the top will engage readers that are flicking through the magazine looking for something interesting. The tab will make the article look interesting because it says “exclusive” meaning its a good article.

Pull Quote: The pull quote is larger than the text from the article so will draw the reader to it and will give them an idea of what the article contains.

Image: The main image being close up shows that the article is important and the pull quote next to the image shows that the image star is important as it comes from an important source.

Repetitive colour scheme consisting of red, black, grey and white.

Black and grey can be seen as quite masculine colours, however the red can be seen as feminine as well as masculine which appeals to my target audience.

The black and grey contrast with the red making the parts in red stand out more.

Question 3How does your media product represent

particular social groups?

Ideal Reader: My cover star represents the ideal reader of my magazine, with the use of mise-en-scene. His costume (hoodie) and performance (hands in pockets) shows a rebellious side which represents the type of costume that an artist in the “hip-hop” genre would wear.

I have used intertextuality in my cover star because the audience will recognise what genre the magazine is just by looking at his clothing and positioning or reading the artists name because they will know from previous existing publications of the same genre.

I have used intertextuality by using artists in my features list that are likely to feature on an existing hip-hop magazine such as “XXL” and “VIBE”. Using these well known artists will attract readers to purchase my magazine as they will want to read about famous artists that they know and have an interest in.

To appeal to the correct target audience, my cover star would have to represent an idealised version of the reader. To appeal to as many customers as possible my star must appear mainstream and slightly threatening to appeal to the my target audience.

Rebellious side:In these photos of my cover star that feature on the front cover and the double page spread of my magazine, my cover star shows an aggressive and unwelcoming expression that can suggest that he is rebellious and is a serious person. Also, in both of these photos, my cover star is wearing a hoodie which can look rebellious being worn in the street but the fact that my cover star is wearing it for a photo shoot with the hood up is unusual for a photo shoot and shows his rebellious side.Another feature of my cover star that shows a rebellious side is that in the front cover, my cover star has his hands in his pockets which shows that he perhaps does not welcome or accept the audience.

Down below are two photos of what I would expect my target audience and ideal reader to look like. In comparison to my cover star, both of the people below are wearing similar clothes (hoodie and jeans) and have very similar facial expressions to my cover star and are standing in the same position as my cover star (hands in pockets, staring at camera). This is how I decided on how my cover star would look like by comparing to these types of models in order for my cover star to represent young male adults.

Cover Star:In all of the photographs of my star, I tried to make sure he would be aspirational for the readers. He is the same age and gender as my ideal reader which therefore would attract my target audience. The mise en scene of the star represents a slightly threatening and rebellious young man and the use of a ‘hoodie’ shows a sense of confrontation.

Question 4In what ways does your media product

use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

The magazine that I looked into was “XXL” because it is also a hip hop magazine and has a similar theme to my magazine. A lot of my inspiration came from “XXL” because the layout is simple yet serious and the artists that feature are similar to mine. To get more ideas for the rest of my magazine, I looked at contents pages and double page spreads that “XXL” had previously made.

Comparison with “XXL”

Use:I used the same colour scheme as XXL because I think that they contrast well with each other in order to stand out more. Just like XXL, I have the a red box with white text for my masthead because I think that the text contrasts well with the background.

Develop:I thought that I would use a medium shot of my cover star instead of a close up like XXL have done because I think that it helps show the cover stars whole identity.

Challenge:I have used a banner that goes across the whole of the top of the page which XXL haven’t used because I think that it helps attract readers by advertising more of what is included within the magazine.

Using, Developing and Challenging ConventionsFront Cover

Key:Green = UsingOrange = DevelopingRed = Challenging

Masthead shows name of magazine

Eye Contact

Main article of magazine

Price and Barcode

Name of artist used in main article

Competition for readers

List of features of the magazine

Mid shot of cover star instead of close up

Main article at bottom left of the page

Most magazines will have more than one image on front cover

Key:Green = UsingOrange = DevelopingRed = Challenging

Using, Developing and Challenging ConventionsContents Page

Title of Features

Magazine logo on the contents page

Features List

Most magazines have more than one image to show the features of the magazine

Eye Contact with camera

Image of main feature

Key:Green = UsingOrange = DevelopingRed = Challenging

Using, Developing and Challenging ConventionsDouble Page Spread

Logo of magazine on double page spread

“Exclusive” strap line to attract reader

Pull Quote

Model crouching down to camera

Some magazines have sub-headings for different sections of article

Page Numbers

Main article on left hand page

Question 5What kind of media institution might

distribute your product and why?

Hop-Hip Magazine

Hop-Hip magazine would be issued monthly and the price would be £2.50.

I have chosen the price of £2.50 as rival magazines such as “XXL” and “VIBE” are priced higher than £2.50 so my lower price would attract more customers.

I have chosen for my magazine to be issued monthly because I can include more content on a monthly basis as doing my magazine weekly, I would not be able to add lots of content so my magazine would be boring meaning customers would not want to purchase my magazine.

Distribution

I did research based on the magazine “XXL” who would be the magazine that I would want to publish alongside and XXL is published by TownSquare Media. Therefore I would choose TownSquare Media to publish and distribute my magazine.

The main reason I have chosen TownSquare Media is because its publications appeal to and are bought by my target audience meaning they could help my magazine be purchased by my target audience by publishing and distributing my magazine.

WebsiteA website is one of the easiest ways to find out about the magazine and also purchase it. My research indicated that most of my target audience have access to and use the internet everyday so can go onto the website. I have mainly chosen to use a website because you can gain more information about the magazine than a social media page however I have also used social media.

Social Media

New Twitter Page for #HopHipMagazine

Hop-Hip@hophip

I have also decided to use social media as a way to advertise my magazine as my research indicated that most of my target audience use social media such as twitter and facebook so I have made a twitter and facebook page to keep readers up to date with the latest information about the magazine and also advertise what is to be included in each magazine.

Merchandise

I have found out from research that I could sell merchandise that my target audience would be willing to purchase which would help branch out my brand and allow it be recognised more.

The merchandise could be clothing and appliances. For example, hoodies, hats, headphones and phone cases.

Question 6What have you learnt about technologies

from the process of constructing this product?

The images above are the photographs that I took using the schools Photography Camera that I would hope to use for my magazine. I tried out a range of different positions and actions that my model would do. The images that have a star on them are the images that I used for my magazine. The blue star is the image that I used for my Front Cover, the red star is the image that I used for my Contents Page and the green star is an image that I used for my Double Page Spread. The yellow star is another image that I used for my Double Page Spread. These were the photos that I think had the better quality and looked like the images that would fit the genre of my magazine.

Firstly, I chose one of the many photos that I took of my model and decided that it would be the photo that I used for my front cover. Once I had chose this, I imported the image into Photoshop where I could crop the image so that it would fit the size ofthe cover and leave space for the other parts of my front cover. Next, I decided to put my masthead on the left hand centre of the page. I created the rest of the page using InDesign as this allowed me to move the photos around more easily and create different styles for my magazine. I then went on to add a list of features down the left hand side however I wanted my model to stand in front of the other features to make him stand out more and look powerful and important. So I “sent the main image tofront” and then added other little things such as a banner across the top of the page and a price and bar code in the bottom right of the page which would be the only thing to stand in front of the main image.

For my contents page, although the background from the first image does not look much different from the background in my final contents page, I wanted the background to be a plain colour just like the background on my front cover to maintain a sense of originality throughout my magazine. To do this I had to remove the background of the image to leave only the model. I used Photoshop to do this by using the ‘magic wand tool’ which helps to remove the background accurately so that you don’t miss anything out or accidently remove something that you don’t want to remove which in this case would be the model. After I did this I put the new image onto InDesign and created the rest of the features that would be on my final contents page.

Question 7Looking back at your preliminary task,

what do you feel you have learnt in progression to the full product?

Front CoversMy skills on different types of software such as InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator have developed a lot from the preliminary task and the main task. I have used all sorts of different and better techniques on my main magazine than the preliminary task in order to make my main task look good and professional.

Preliminary Task – Front CoverOn the front cover of my magazine in the preliminary task, I have used a simple colour scheme of blue, purple and white which is a very common magazine convention. My masthead is positioned in the left centre at the top of page which is also a common convention however my masthead does not look professional. My magazine front cover contains many other common magazine conventions such as a price, bar code, issue number and banner. The banner is also positioned across the top of the page just like a professional magazine banner would. On the main image I have not removed the background which makes the magazine look more unprofessional however I have used a blur technique on the background to make my main model stand out more and engage the reader. In my magazine I have used many conventions that a professional magazine would however a more professional look would help the magazine look like a real product so by realising the changes that were needed, I decided to make these improvements on the main task.

Main Task – Front CoverWhen making my main product I knew what was needed to improve in order to make my magazine look more professional so I took more time constructing my magazine in order to achieve this. I continued to use some of the positives that came from my magazine from the preliminary task which were mainly the common conventions of a real magazine that I had used. These conventions included, the masthead being placed in the left centre at the top, one main image of the star that will feature in the main article, a list of what else is included in the magazine down the left hand side of the page, a banner across the top of the page, a price and a barcode. I have also continued to use a colour scheme which this time consists of red, black and grey as I feel that the black and grey contrasts well with the red. I have improved the use of fonts as I have tried to use a small amount of different font types on my front cover which makes it look more professional whereas I used too many on my magazine from the preliminary task which made it look more unorganised. I knew that when making my main magazine I wanted to remove the background on my main image as it would look better so I found out how to do it on Photoshop and used that technique on my main image.

Contents PagesIn the contents page of my magazine from the preliminary task I used a colour scheme however, I didn’t follow the convention of having the list of features on the left hand side of the page on either of the contents pages because I wanted to challenge that convention.

Preliminary Task – Contents Page

On the contents page of my magazine in the preliminary task, I have used a simple colour scheme of purple and yellow which I have realised do not contrast each other at all. My title is positioned in the centre across the top of the page which is a common convention however my title does not look professional. My magazine contents page does not contain many common magazine conventions. I have put the list of features on the right instead of the left and have only used one image instead of multiple images to show the features of the magazine. On the main image I have removed the background which makes the magazine look more professional however it still looks very unprofessional. I realised that I hadn’t spent enough time and attention on my contents page and to make my contents page look more professional when doing my magazine for the main task I would have to spend more time and give more attention to my contents page so that my overall marks don’t go down because of it. To do this I would have to learn new techniques on software such as Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator and look at contents pages from existing publications to gain ideas on how to make my contents page more professional.

Main Task – Contents Page

When making my main product I knew what was needed to improve in order to make my contents page look more professional so I took more time and attention in constructing my contents page in order to achieve this. I have tried to challenge some conventions that are used in professional magazines such as in my preliminary contents page I have put the list of features on the right hand side of the page instead of the left and have used one image instead of multiple images. Also, I have put the logo of my magazine on the contents page which usually does not feature on a contents page. I have also continued to use a colour scheme which consists of red, black and grey as I wanted to continue using the same colour scheme as the front cover and also throughout the rest of the magazine so that my magazine maintains originality and I like using red, black and grey as I feel that the black and grey contrasts well with the red. I have improved the font as I have tried to use a more professional font that will interest the reader. I removed the background on my main photo on my main contents page like I did on my contents page from the preliminary task because I still think it looks more professional.