Evaluation of my current coursework

Media Conventions

It’s one of the reasons I used the font and colour for the title. It was first of all convenient, the 3 letter title allowed me to make the masthead large, appealing and nice while still not taking up most of the page. I used the text I used because it was thin but still overpowering enough for it to establish itself as the masthead.

The right hand third challenges media conventions by not featuring all the information on the left. It is typical of magazines to place information on the right and it was something I did not want to do while I took my pictures. The effect I used for the right hand third was necessary to keep with the style of the page. I used the dots to separate the article headline used to give the reader a brief insight into the article with the slightly more detailed part intended only for readers interested in the main head line. For example, ‘TRAGIC’, this part of the right hand third gives the reader a brief outline of the featured artist, if the reader is interested, they can then move on to the purple text which allows the reader to choose what he is reading which in turn gives the reader a sense of control over the magazine. It was used due to the way I took the picture. The model has his head tilted left along with his body enabling me to use a right hand third that would not look out of place.

My media magazine challenges media conventions by being less generic than other magazines, particularly student magazines. When I say a less generic look, I mean to avoid the big, bright and extravagant colours that ‘attract the readers’ attention.

The picture uses media conventions by placing the artist either in the centre, left or right of the magazine. It is typical of magazines to do this but it challenges develops media conventions by allowing text to border on to the artist.

The purple and white colour layout is extremely important for my magazine cover. It’s used for the reader to differentiate between what’s ‘important’ and what’s ‘less important’ something ordinary media conventions do not do. If you take a look at the magazine, you notice the purple is only used for ‘secondary’ parts of the magazine. The reason for this is the white is clear, clean and captures attention while keeping with the calm theme the cover has, white is more suitable than yellow or red because it’s less childish and is easier to match up with other colours. The role that Purple has is to give information similar to what the white text gives but the information is less urgent and is not present to catch any sort of attention from the reader. It’s is also a colour that is used to match with the ‘swagger’ of the model although keeping in mind in mind that the idea of the Purple being a ‘secondary’ colour does not affect the model although this can be seen as contradictory. I also did not want to use bright colours such as Yellow and Red because it is an alerting colour that may affect the way the reader sees the magazine.

The selling line is simple and has a slightly hidden meaning. The arrows are what make the selling line what it is, the arrows are there to signify the ongoing amount of information that is present in EME.

I took a few notes from Vibe in terms of picture and text placement. It stood out for me because it was clean, sharp and stylish. The only real difference is that in some occasions the text invades my model slightly but with Vibe it sort of surrounds him. It gave off a different vibe for my magazine as for Vibe, the fact that all information surrounds the model it gives off the feel that everything revolves around Vibes model. For my rapper, I wanted it to seem like he is accepting of new things so if something borders onto his picture, it is something he does not mind. At first, I struggled to find a good name for my magazine. I wanted it to suit rap so I thought of words such as Urban and Hood but it come across as too generic for me. The best thing with acronyms is how much you can squeeze in but you still don’t want it to make no sense. My inspiration for the picture of the model came from the magazine below, after deciding I will have an acronym masthead, I didn’t have to worry about having my model in front or behind the masthead. I took inspiration from the magazine below. The model was told to lean slightly to the left to make

space for the masthead and other information to

come. It opened up a lot of opportunities for me.

Evidently, the name for my magazine was

Inspired by NME. For me, it was critical that

The name of the magazine had a nice flow to it.

My contents page is not as complex as my front cover and in a number of cases challenges media conventions. It doesn’t use the typical layout which is a large picture of the artist and a table of contents. The main reason I didn’t go with that kind of idea was because it often seems messy and disorganised and is an annoyance in terms of getting an appropriate picture to fit the contents page. I once again wanted to keep with my clean look and not give the magazine a messy style which is different to media conventions

The pictures placed were appropriate for the reader to establish what he wants to do. It gives a clear image and description and removes any sort of confusion the reader may encounter when reading another magazine. I also wanted to make the ‘PAGE 1 or PAGE 2’ parts of the bold large and noticeable.

The part of the contents page which tells the reader he has the chance to have his mixtape featured is different and attractive. To once again develop media conventions, I used a different method to attract readers who enjoy entering competitions. I decided I would not go with the ordinary ‘WIN TICKETS TO A CONCERT' as they are more complicated and generic. Having a mixtape featured has been a welcomed feature among readers mainly because of the word of mouth it can promote. Each artist who wishes to be featured must present evidence that they have a consistent amount of followers. While this can be seen as a bad way at developing media conventions (Win tickets to a concert is more accessible and open to a much larger audience) if the artist has a consistent, moderate amount of fans he can attract others to the magazine

I used the same text for 'EME' because it suited it and I didn't want to seem disorganised. I simply put 'EME The Contents'. The reason for this is because the worst thing you can do is assume the reader knows what he or she is doing. The reader should always be reassured with what they are doing.

I was specific in choosing the picture for the 'Love Train' article. It allowed me to use media conventions. The media convention I used was a picture of an attractive female. Using an attractive female will make readers more likely to skip to the article as for some, it is inviting whereas for others, it may be something they want to wear and using the female I used may encourage them to want to look nice and the clothes may allow them to do so.

The picture of Tragic was slightly random at first but became clearer and clearer as I laid out the contents page. The picture allowed the artist to feel chill and also challenge media conventions because he seemed relaxed but was not in a studio or not in his own home, rather in a public place. It immediately gives the reader a feeling that the artist is relaxed, regardless of the article's content.

The picture of Taunts gives off an obvious message. The reader can immediately relate the picture to the article. However, the picture is not as basic as it seems. The picture develops media conventions by showing the artist with his black hooded jumper wearing it with his hood up. It shows the artist in a different light, unlike that of different magazines who usually show an artist in their best clothing and they usually seem ready for the picture to be taken whereas the picture of the artist Taunts gives a more personal view that the reader may be attracted to.

The big part for me that really develops and challenges media conventions is 'All Other pages'. Taking note from magazines such as NME, Vibe, XXL etc, when a magazine lists its content, it typically lists it down the left of a page along with the information of the article, I wanted to use another style and show others that it works.

My contents page didn't have much of an inspiration although the page below gave me a good guideline. What stood out for me was the way the pictures are placed along with the page number although unlike mine, the contents page makes it easy to establish the main article. The reason I was inspired by this is because I want the reader to have a good look at what they are reading for more than just one article. One big picture followed by a ton of text isn't enough for me because if I was reading a magazine a picture is more likely to attract me to the article.

Used to immediately establish the subject of the article. It uses media conventions by making the artist the main part of the article.

Gives the article a newspaper type feel. I originally placed black boxes underneath the text but removed them as it looked unprofessional. This develops media conventions by showing a new way to list an article.

A quote by the artist that is noticeable but not huge. Below represents when he said it. It challenges conventions by not making the quote so huge and overpowering.

The picture is clear, clean and tells the reader the importance of the article. Most information present was gathered from the article in which Tragic is being interviewed. It establishes importance because the reader can tell the conference is being held at or by Sky TV. The 2 pictures I used are to show his contrasting personality. One minute he is serious on the matter, the next minute he is laughing. I once again added EME to remind the reader what he is reading. It uses media conventions by placing the large picture to the left of the page and the article to the right.

My magazine represents hip-hop fans in a somewhat stereotypical way at times in terms of 'swagger' but hopes to challenge the burden that is 'bruv' or 'init'. This stereotype that hip-hop fans carry is something I did not want to incorporate into my magazine. I wanted it to represent all types of 14-17 year olds along with readers aged 18+. I represented 14-17 year olds with the colour scheme and the model. To do this, I made the models 'swagger' correspond with the purple and white text. It's an efficient way of attracting somebody to the magazine as the model and magazines 'swagger' may fit their style. The second way my magazine represents social groups is with clothing. Throughout the magazine, each artist corresponds with his background. Similar to the front cover, I wanted to represent young people in an organised fashion. Not a ton of bright, child like colours

What I didn’t want -

Social Groups

With all due respect to NME, the colour scheme fits the 'lifestyle' of an indie fan but wouldn't suit my magazine. I intended to represent the social group of my readers in a cool, chilled out way.

I used the colour blue/green in my background to represent my social group (My social group being hip-hop fans and the model). Blue is a colour used to represent confidence and importance. This colour is important for me because I did not want my readers to feel uncomfortable as this usually happens when a reader opens a magazine due to them seeing many artists that they would at times ‘wish’ to be like. The style of the picture represents hip-hop social groups in a different light. In most pictures, the artists are not wearing hooded jumpers and do not attempt to look 'gangster'. If I did dress them like this, it's possible that it would allow the reader to relate to the artists but I decided to show them in a different light and hopefully interest the reader.

The audience for my magazine would be as stated above 14-18+. The reason I was specific in making my magazine aimed towards 14 years old and older was because the style. If I aimed it towards an audience below 14, I would be forced to do what I have avoided and that is use extremely informal language. For example; Yo, ting, bruv, init. Now, I'm not necessarily saying every young man aged 13 and under speaks like how I have listed, but the most important thing for a magazine is to make the reader feel comfortable and in control and really narrowing down a style that will hopefully suit all readers. Going from my experiences, a lot of young boys and girls speak in that style and may feel comfortable reading in that style but it was certainly a no go for me due to the extra effort that would be needed to insert this language into the magazine.

Instead, I intended to still use words in a hip-hop context mainly because I didn't want to abandon that part altogether. Phrases such as 'It's gonna be LIVE!' or 'The albums content is a MADNESS' and so on. It still creates a bond between the reader and the magazine while not seriously going over the top.

Other than language, the picture of the artist portrays him as young and fashionable which fits into the lifestyle of EME readers.

Audience for my magazine

My idea to attract an audience was ingenious in some ways. When I enter a shop that sells magazines, I see many magazines desperate to be seen. How do they do this? Like I've said many times before, using over the top, extremely bright colours. If not that, a magazine usually contains an overload of information which can usually make it hard for the reader to stomach it. Instead, I used a mix of both, well placed, clean and plentiful information with a nice mix of blue, purple and white. That was the method used to attract my audience at first glance. To attract my audience outside of the shops and to give them a chance to acknowledge it, I first started by approaching my 'target audience' and asking them a number of questions. I quickly realised this would not work so I used social networking to my advantage. Facebook, Twitter, Hotmail and Blackberry Messenger are great ways to get your magazine around.

Word of mouth allowed me to attract an audience, free of charge. However, the problem with this is how the magazine comes across. Unlike a movie, word of mouth is complicated for a magazine, a friend can describe to a friend that the movie is about aliens attacking aliens and there’s this actor etc. For a magazine, you can only really describe that it has your favourite rapper inside. This seems like a valid thing to say however nothing stops other magazines from having information about a persons favourite rapper. QR scanners actually got me a surprising amount of customers. It surprised me how often iPhone or Blackberry users encountered my QR scanner and took it upon themselves to scan. It was great in allowing me to gain customers literally doing nothing physical.

To also attract my audience at a glance, I was sure to use the colour I used for the background. It is overpowering in some sense but is still a calm colour that can easily attract the reader.

Questionnaire

QR Scanner

Attracting my audience

To attract the readers to my magazine using the contents page, I started off by using a picture of an attractive female. Male readers may be interested in the female featured in the magazine whereas female readers may be interested as it shows that the magazine does not cater to just males, it also puts effort in for females.

To attract readers to the featured mixtape offer, I used the album cover of an artist who does not have a huge following. This gives readers hoping to have their mixtape featured a chance as they haven't heard of the artist.

I placed the name of the artist in large, bold text. It's similar to what my front cover did, it is there to attract the reader to the artists name and the smaller text allows them to continue reading.

For the pictures of my artists on the contents page, early into starting my magazine I wanted the pictures to be relaxed, outside of a studio and above all doing something readers do. More often than not, artists are doing something ridiculous in their photos and are not something the reader does in day to day life (Something the reader may want to do, but it is unlikely they ever will). That's why my artists are outside, the picture of 'Tragic' has him laid back on a set of stairs not worrying about anything. For my Double Page spread, I used a large picture of the article which allows me to cut down the length of the article when needed and also immediately gives the reader a view of the artist(s) they're about to read. The 'TRAGIC' part of the page was there to quickly establish who you are reading. Like I've said before, I never want to assume the reader knows something, I always place something there to let them know.

The publishing magazine that would publish my magazine is likely IPC Media. IPC media control a large amount of magazines and distribute worldwide. I thought at first that it wouldn’t be a wise choice because IPC deal with a very large amount of magazines compared to other publishers. I finally went with it because I noticed they haven’t got many music magazine except NME. Although NME is a very large magazine it could be great at promoting my magazine and I’m also confident my magazine will prosper over others. A chance at getting international would also be great. The fact that IPC media do TV Guides and gossip magazines is also vital. It's a good chance for the company to place a mini ad saying something like 'Gossip, interviews, leaks and more! Don't miss EME! The best source for hip-hop music!'

I had a large amount of media technology at my disposal when creating my magazine. The media technology I used consisted of an advanced Digital Camera, Adobe Photoshop CS4/5. I also took advantage of public places that I saw.

The digital camera I used was a Canon 550d and I learnt a lot about the camera specifications. I first took my pictures with a flash and it produced great quality pictures. However, when I uploaded my pictures I noticed the flash caused problems for me. I tried to cut the background out of the picture but while doing so, I noticed that the flash had created a shadow around the model and so I had difficulty cutting them out. I attempted to manually cut but the body turned out too jagged and the picture looked unprofessional. I decided I would go back and take more pictures, this time, I took the pictures while the model took the pictures in front of a clear background. Below are my first and final attempts at taking pictures.

I used photoshop to make my magazine and used a variety of tools. When I first took my pictures, I decided I would cut them out with the Magic Wand tool, this proved unsuccessful. I settled with using the Magnetic Lasso tool and for some I decided to not cut the background out. If you refer back to earlier in the slide I say that I didn't want too many studio pictures. To enhance the quality of my photos, I duplicated the photo but decreased its transparency, this allowed me to get a cleaner, slightly higher quality picture. Laying out the text proved a challenge for me, time and time again I would press enter to start another line of text below but it would make the gap extremely huge. I was forced to make a new text box each time I needed a new line of writing. Also, I used texts at home that would fit my magazine but as I got in to school to edit my magazine, the text was not on the Mac so I could not edit the majority of the text. I still overcome these problems however. I was able to get one step ahead in making my magazine because when my teacher was explaining to the class the basics of photoshop, I didn't need to know and I was able to immediately start my magazine.

Media Technology

The jump from my preliminary task to my magazine was evidently big. While I had the basics of photoshop down, making the magazine allowed me to learn a number of media conventions and photoshop techniques. For example, for my preliminary task, I simply enlarged a standard quality picture I had taken and used it as my background. I used a number of magazine like slogans in my publication, it was something I already knew about. A number of things I learnt from my preliminary task to my magazine was the importance of pictures. I also had little idea with the text to use. As you can see in my Contents page, I use a gradient text box to place underneath the text. It's not something you see in my magazine as it is unprofessional and not appealing. On the other hand Microsoft Publisher was extremely limited in terms of what I could produce which was one of the reasons the quality is below standard.

How I've progressed