By Laura Henderson

1. What does the title suggest to you?

Hip-Hop

Rap

R'n'B

2. What genre/type of music does the magazine focus on and how do you no this?

‘Hip-Hop, Rap. Because of the clothing used, different types of fonts and colours, and also the name of the magazine.’

I g

I gave 10 different people the given questionnaire: 5 male and 5 female as my target audience was for both genders. These are

the results and feedback that I received from them.

3. What makes the pages look professional and what stops them from looking professional?

‘The layout of the text and the different fonts and pictures used make it look professional. However, I think the double page spread doesn’t look as good as the other two.’

4. How genuine does the front cover seem?

Very Genuine

Pretty Genuine

Nearly Genuine

5. Does the Contents Page simply inform or does it also manage to interest you in reading the rest of the magazine?

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

1

Interest

Both

Informs

6. Does the article sound like a piece of journalism? If not what bits don’t sound right?All said yes.

7. Does the articles layout make you want to read it? If not why?Yes, it stands out from the other pages which are black.

IntroductionMy project was to create a Music Magazine for a specific genre and target audience. I was to produce a Front Page, Contents Page and a Double Spread entirely by myself. And I was to take the photos for my magazine myself and create the layout, fonts, text, position of photos etc. I had to come up with the name of the magazine and the featured artist/s as well as style them. I worked entirely by myself on this project as it was only designed for one person. So I produced the Front Cover, Contents Page and Double Page Spread by myself.

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

The genre of my Music Magazine is Hip-Hop. I chose this specific genre because I thought that it was different and there aren’t many hip-hop magazines published in the UK. I tried to use basic conventions of hip-hop whilst producing the magazine by mainly using black backgrounds and use various fonts from www.dafont.com that would help establish the genre easily. On the front page I have used different fonts to create more effect to the magazine. The title is easily read with a distorted font to create a more effective look to fit the genre well. On the Contents Page I have used simple, ordinary fonts but I have used them in a way to again make the page look more effective and complex, e.g. splitting the title ‘contents’ into 3 parts: CO-NTEN-TS. On the Double Page Spread I have taken the word ‘ASHTON’ and copied it onto the page as to carry on the conventions so that the magazine and pages flow together and again I have just used a simple text for the writing as to make it easy to read. I think these innovations were likely to prove successful because they established the genre well and worked effectively in the magazine. My audience stated that they thought these innovations worked well, so I am pleased with my decisions.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The type of people that I have represented in my magazine are those of various cultures and at a young age of 14-25, as this was my aimed target audience. My meaning of various cultures is that the ‘hip-hop’ genre is based upon Black-American people. Yet as the genre has become more popular over the years, White, Black, Asian, Far-Eastern and many more generations have become involved in this type of music. In the media these type of people who are into this range of music, (Hip-Hop, Rap, R’n’B etc.) are portrayed as ‘gangsters’ and ‘criminals’ which gives a bad interpretation of the people and also their chosen music in which they will enjoy and be inspired by. These people reflect upon stars and musicians themselves such as, 50 Cent, Lil Wayne and Kanye West. They copy their attitudes, clothing, dialect etc.

In my magazine the way I have represented ‘Ashton’ as a hip-hop artist but the complete opposite of what the media makes these sort of people out to be. I have clothed him in ‘typical’ gangster clothes as this is the message I wanted to get across; the fact that even though they wear that type of clothing they are not all like what the media make them out to be. In the interview, I have made sure that proper grammar and English was used so it made him out to be well spoken and respective.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

I did some research into the types of magazines that are out there and on the market similar to mine. The following are some examples of the magazines I have found that fit my genre that are currently on the market:

Pop Justice – hipsters read this

Unbarred – covers a variety of genres

Tense Magazine – hip hop, garage, urban music

Trance Urban – daily hip hop news, stories and features

I also found a UK hip hop magazine that was based on the internet:

www.ragomagazine.com

I think that there is a reasonable space in the market for my magazine if it was to be published as there aren’t many hip hop magazines in the UK that have been published, yet there are lots over in the USA. This makes my product special as there will be very few other magazines like this in the UK market which should bring a wider range of audiences and a popular demand in the magazine.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for my media product would be 14-25 as this is my agreed target audience. It would be for both genders, but mainly for males as they are the gender most interested in this type of genre. It would be for all ethnics and nationalities as it originally originated in America by Black-Americans, it has gradually developed to be a world wide spread attracting people of all ages and colour. It would be aimed at fans of that particular genre (hip hop) and those who lead their lifestyles e.g. what they wear, how the act or speak etc. of the celebrities who are involved in that particular music type. I think that this is a good audience because it is a wide spread of a generation, and that particular generation today are interested in various different genres, mainly including hip hop/r’n’b/rap as more and more teenagers become more involved and inspired by the music. They would also be right for my product as they can relate to the magazine and be inspired by what goes into it and how it leads away from the typical stereotype of them all being ‘criminals’ or ‘gangsters’ just by the way they act or dress. Relating back to my audience response, the comments and responses I did get were very positive. Even though it was only a small sample, by getting good feedback from the majority it would lead me to think that if this was a realistic magazine then it would be successful.

How did you attract/address your audience?I attracted my audience by choosing the appropriate pictures, fonts, texts etc. I chose the name FLUIDZ because I thought that this sounded attracting and easy to remember. It also relates to the whole hip hop theme e.g. PartyTime! Would have sounded silly and wouldn’t of been an appropriate title for the whole genre of the magazine. The picture I chose for the front cover (as shown on the right) was most suited as it shows a very laid back and innocent look. Not the whole ‘gangster, ‘in your face’ look. The use of the storylines on the front cover are used on the right hand side of the page. They are short, yet informative and the artists names featured are in a light blue as to make them stand out. I carried this idea on, onto my contents page as I thought that this looked effective. The language used is short and simple as to not bore the reader and so they get a quick insight of what’s featured in the magazine. On the contents page I have again kept it simple. I have used the same artists from the front cover on the contents page as to feature them twice, yet I have also included some new artists. I have used the following picture (on the right) as my contents page image as I thought this would look effective as it shows him pointing up to the word ‘Contents’. On my double page spread I have used the same text for the word ‘ASHTON’ from the front cover as again this flows with the magazine. I have structured the text around the pictures as to make them fit. I had to crop and cut around these pictures as to make them a suitable size for my page. The pictures again show that he is laid back and stylish, again going away from the whole ‘gangster’ look, yet still showing a little of it to still fit the whole genre of the magazine. The ideologies about celebrity I have used is the whole, background and how it all started as I wanted to make it seem as realistic as possible.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Throughout the whole project I have used technology in many different ways. I have used the internet for research into similar magazines and also for ideas for my magazine. Also I have used www.blogger.com to post my updates, research etc about my magazine. From using blogger I was able to post links to other websites and use different fonts and colours. I was also able to upload pictures and videos and when I have finished my presentation I can upload it to my blog using www.slideshare.net. Whilst doing this project I have learnt how to use different programs such as InDesign and PhotoShop which has helped me produce my magazine in a professional way which you couldn’t do on a program such as Paint. I also had to use a digital camera for my pictures, so I had to take what I had learnt about lighting, mise en scene etc and use it whilst taking my photos to make it as realistic and effective as possible. By using effective, professional programs I have learnt how to crop, cut out, get rid of red-eye, airbrush and many more. From when we did our preliminary task way back at the beginning of the 10 weeks for our project I have improved massively on how to use the programs and use technology. If you look at my preliminary task to my actual project now you will see a change in how I have used different texts and have better, more quality pictures. From my audience feedback I have used technology for that as to create graphs to show the feedback received in a clear, presentive way.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Looking back at my preliminary task I have improved a lot with my use of technology and layout and presentation of magazines. The picture on the right shows the front cover of my preliminary task. The title used here is very simple as apposed to my title for my magazine, FLUIDZ. This is also simple, yet it is effective and catchy unlike the title for the preliminary task which was simply the name of the college. Also there is a lot of white space at the top and the bottom part there is none which makes it look less professional than my actual front cover. Whereas on my front cover I have used the space effectively as I have spread things out more. The texts used on my front cover of my magazine are more effective and fit the genre more than they do on the preliminary task as I had just used plain simple fonts that were quite boring. These would make the reader bored and wouldn’t enlighten them to continue reading the rest of the magazine. Also the contents page as shown on the right was a rough draft, which was required. It showed the basics of what the layout would have been like, yet again this looks boring as there is no colour usage and pictures are very basic and simplistic which wouldn’t really attract the reader. As apposed to my contents page in my magazine this looks more effective as the word ‘contents’ is used in an effective way as I have split the word up and the image used also relates to the word as the shot shows him pointing up to the word which links them together.

Overall Conclusion:

My overall personal evaluation of my product is that I think I have produced an effective magazine that does fit its genre of hip hop. Its strengths of the magazine are that its genre is represented in a positive way and whilst it does fit the whole stereotype of the word ‘hip hop’ and words associated with it, it still leans away from the typical stereotype giving a positive overall view. Also I am happy with the shots and fonts I have used as I think they look really effective and fit the whole genre which is a huge positive point as to making my magazine seem more realistic. Some weaknesses of my magazine is that I think the double page spread could have been on a black background as apposed to the white one. I think this because the rest of the pages were in black so it may seem as though it doesn’t fit within the flow of the magazine. Also on the front cover I should have used a more up close shot as to fit the page better. Even though I am happy with the shot used on the front cover I just think that this is also a weakness as I could have used another picture from my photo shoot.

I think that the idea of it coming close to the ‘real thing’ is insight, yet plenty of changes could be made. I think its great that just using two simple programs which allow you to crop, cut, airbrush etc and produce what could potentially become a real magazine is pretty amazing considering you have no experience of producing magazines and have no insight to the whole process as well as using the technology.