My Magazine Evaluation

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

So HOOD, reflects a real music magazine which is a media product in many ways. Some ways it accomplishes this is by, the use of codes and conventions that a normal magazine would have. These include;

Central image: The convention of a central image is utilized to bring to the magazine constituents such as; emotion, mis-en-scene and a sense of negative/positive atmospheric feelings. It helps the audience distinguish the genre the magazine is using. I developed my central image by researching other magazines linked with my genre and the result was;

•Negatively broadcasted (whether it is related to music or other issues) through low lighting .

•Emotions were revealed through models positioning .

•Mis-en-scene was clearly displayed by use of props and clothing.

My central image was then created to display its genre though typical elements, like real magazines do. For Grime/Hip-Hop though; the diamond, the hood , dark lighting (which highlights negative emotions); all these make apparent to the audience that the magazine belongs to a grime /rap culture.

Bottom/top strip: This gives a insight onto the popular stories contained within the magazine. It attracts a target audience by revealing more of the weeks best magazine features. The reason this is used is to reflect a real music magazine and mimic the selling technique they use. Furthermore I used this convention so the reader can find out more about the magazine on the front cover without it looking disorganised or untidy; because of to much writing on the page.

Cover-lines: The convention of cover lines is so the target audience can see what features are in the magazine, but at the same time these are much more prominent then the bottom strip. The cover lines almost act as a temptation, so the readers see them and want to find out more, as a result more of the targeted audience will want to purchase the magazine. With the cover lines I also situated them on the left third which is an essential factor of a music magazine because this is the side the buyer sees in the shops on the shelf.

Masthead: The masthead is original and was created by myself, I extracted the fonts from www.picnik.com and www.dafont.com; then constructed the final product on Photoshop. I feel it attracts my target audience, because it is styled in a graffiti font and this links in with the streets, which is associated with grime. This then reveals a similarity between a real music magazine and “So HOOD” because; real magazines use a bold masthead, suited to there audience by connecting them with there genres conventions. Additionally the use of musical symbols (speakers and microphone ) coincide with the graffiti styled font to create a musical street culture. This is revealed, by Hip-Hop and Grime music being stereotyped as an accessory of the streets because of it originating there. This appeals to the target audience like a real magazine because they instantly gain a connection with the magazines masthead.

Barcode: A barcode is needed on any magazine to make it genuine and authentic. This is because it is used verification of sales by distributors, so a barcode is compulsory . I chose to have a barcode because this meant my magazine would appear much more realistic and this would make my target audience more interested.

Tag-line: I have included a tag-line as these are noticed as a convention of all magazines. It is there to reinforce the magazines genre, “The magazine out of the hood” , insinuates the magazine is from the streets and this obviously signifies grime/rap music as it targets a audience revolved around the streets.

Pug: The ears of the magazine usually offer free items, promotional offers or competitions in order to attract the audience and hopefully tempt into buying . Majority of magazines have this convention to boost magazine sales, so I felt it was only needed in my magazine to make it seem as proficient as I possible could.

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

My contents and double page article both challenge the Grime/Hip-Hop genres especially grime. This is due to the female character used. This explains how my media product challenges the conventions of a real media product, because of it attempting to challenge the music genres like other magazines do.

I decided to rebel against the conventions of Grime and Hip-Hop and aim to challenge the stereotypical genres, by not using a masculine figure that portrays a dominant, negative genre, but to utilize a female, and this brought femininity into a genre full with masculine connotations. Grime/Hip-Hop is usually viewed to be masculine due to the fact it originated from the streets (known to be known as a male territory ). Me using a female to indicate the street was a difficult task but was accomplished by editing other fields. On the double page article, these were the background imagery; amount of light and contrast on the model and the blur effect on the wall. I come to a decision, to have a black and white wall. I felt this would reflect Grime better then a coloured brick wall because it shows the negativity associated with the streets, because of it being dark. Moreover I changed the brightness of contrast of my model in order to express negative emotions that are stereotyped within in the streets, and I done this by making the image have more shadows and become darker overall. What is more, I chose to use the blur on the wall to exhibit the distress associated among the street. I have used this idea because, it is the what a real magazine would do in order to attract there audience by attempting to make them feel the magazines mis-en-scene.

Again, on the contents a challenge is set, and this is due to the use of the female model once more. In this specific image the utilization of props indicates the genre and this reflects a real music magazine because, they always have the use of props to highlight a genre. In this instance the props insinuate “hair and beauty” or “music” and this stemmed from my research on magazines that use props to tell a stories and cover lines. Also like a real magazine I felt it was appropriate to have a consistent house style. So I decided to express emotion through my contents page image too. I did this by altering the brightness and contrast to darken the image, to reflect my chosen genre . This element shows a clear understanding in music magazines, as they attempt to show emotion throughout the magazine to portray their genre

My contents page and double page article both use conventions of music magazines through font and text;

On the double page article the text is a legible font and also in between the size bracket 8-11. This clearly states that my magazine, as well as challenges the conventions of a real magazine, it also uses normal conventions. On the contents page The subheadings (weekly and only this week) and page numbers are very genuine and are used in most magazines . So I made a decision to have these featuring on my magazine to make it more realistic.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

So HOOD attracts a audience that defies Hip-Hop and Grime. In further detail; a audience that reflect s and portrays the genres. The target audience for a real media product that are associated with these genres are, mainly young adults and mature adults of the male genre. This is due to the use of some explicit content within the genres music itself. My magazine being part of these genres I decided to aim towards the general audience, but also chose to aim it a bit more towards a female audience and towards a younger age, maybe old teenagers. This was due to my research information when I surveyed the question, “Would you be interested in purchasing a Grime/Hip-Hop magazine regularly ?”.

The results the guided my design process are displayed;

Male Audience-15 for each age surveyed. Female Audience-15 for each age surveyed.

My results showed me the younger age are attracted to the genres contained in my magazine. They are the age bracket that would buy a magazine based on Hip-Hop and Grime so it would benefit my media product to aim towards that age. The results also show that the female audience do have a slight attraction to my genres, so they should equally be targeted.

In conclusion my audience for my magazine consist of both females and males, of the age of 15+.

How did you attract/address your target audience?So HOOD attracts a audience specifically based on the persons appeal of its profound genres. It covers two fields; Hip-Hop and Grime. The magazines images are the main focal point of So HOOD and are the near enough the selling point of the media product. It attracts a audience by reflecting the conventions of both genres, mainly through the emotions the central image exhibits. Normal Grime/Hip-Hop magazines are usually dark to portray the stereotypical views of the streets. My image was utilized to construct a negative emotion which mirrors the darkness in order for So HOOD’s genres to become more recognisable and attractive to its audience. The same sort of constituents are applied with the fonts through my editing process. The main element though for the text was the terminology utilized. It displayed the street through terms like “ Freshest” and many more throughout the magazine. This assisted the magazines emotions in attracting the audience due to the terms originating from the streets. Moreover I used symbols ( microphone and speaker ) which highlight music in order to attract my audience by attempting to make contact with them.

The use of pugs for free items and bottom strips for competitions also attract the audience because of the opportunity to gain something huge for free or be entered in a competition to gain it. This element alerts purchase prone persons and therefore attract more of my audience.

An essential factor of attracting my audience was my cover lines. This convention gives the reader an insight what is in my magazine. Which covers the best topics in this specific genre, so again this attracts my audience.

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

My preliminary task and my final product show many similarities but there is a clear sense of improvement. In contrast it is quite obvious that I have a much better understanding of codes and conventions of a media magazine. I feel this has happened because of my experiences and mistakes I made within my preliminary task, because I then analyzed them and made sure I never made these mistakes again. I feel this has also broadened my knowledge with all the technology and programs I used the first time around, because where I made the errors, I went back on to the software and looked where I could make corrections. After this I made sure I noted the corrections I made to the problems so they could be prevented if they was to occur while constructing my music magazine.

I feel I have also learnt how to evaluate my process correctly and recognise any mistakes in my production and criticise constructively.

Furthermore, I have learnt how to plan my process more accurately so the designing processes are much easier.

I have also learnt that the typography utilized needs to be legible and at a standard size.

In conclusion, in the time gap between my preliminary task and my final magazine, I had time to reflect on my processes and gain a understanding on how to better things that have room for improvement.

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

Technologies play a big part in production processes in this present era. To construct my media product and make it as realistic as possible, I utilized Photoshop elements and InDesign. Also to collect imagery the use of professional camera equipment was needed, so knowledge on how to use this was appropriate.

Photoshop elements;During the process of creating my media product I had to utilize the program called Photoshop. I had to use this to edit images and other like-wise factors. Photoshop was the program that assisted me in establishing my masthead and creating a proficient product . I feel my masthead creates emotions that dwell around Grime and Hip-Hop this is due to the use of the font used, and the effects I added to it on Photoshop. In Photoshop I learnt about the use of layered effects, i.e. the ones I usedOn my masthead ( grey tiled, gradient and bubble wrap effect ) . I also learnt how to use most tools effectively on Photoshop , these include the magicwand, magnetic lasso, spot healer and many other things but I felt these were the biggest of them all.

InDesign; I have learnt loads about this software and how it works. In comparison to Photoshop I feel the program is not really as good but, only helps in creating the product with better organisation skills and this is due to the use of guide-lines on InDesign. Before this task I had never used InDesign before and on my first few attempts found it difficult to master. The final product though clearly reflects the use of InDesign as it looks much more professional due to better tools it has for organising a project. Furthermore typography on InDesign is another features that is better than Photoshop’s and this is because, it is much more realistic and when you chose to use text you can vary it a lot much more and morph it in many other ways.

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

Professional camera equipment;I learnt about how to use professional lighting and the different types of lights that are used to create

that perfect image. I also learnt about colour filters and how they can change the image completely. I also gained knowledge on correcting the cameras focal lens to obtain the best image possible. Moreover I know which lens is most suitable for different lengths and environments. On the camera I used I also learnt how to remove red eyes through the “red eye removal” tool. Additionally I learnt how to gain the perfect image by using the anti-shake feature and by controlling the amount of flash

I wanted.

More on Photoshop; Other effects I used and discovered on Photoshop were; · Bevels A effect which makes the object appear as it is out of the page.· Inner glows A coloured or white glow that forms inside the outline of the object .· Outer glowsA coloured or white glow that forms outside the outline of the object.· Visibility control Control how much of the object is visible to the eye.· Drop shadows A shadow that drops from the object you chose and acts in the way you direct it through advanced options.· Inner shadows A shadow that appears inside of the object and again acts in the way you direct it through advanced options.· Colour correctionAlter colour changes and correct colours that look unrealistic.

WHAT INSTITUTION WOULD INSTITUTION WOULD DISTRIBUTE MY WHAT INSTITUTION WOULD INSTITUTION WOULD DISTRIBUTE MY MAGAZINE ?MAGAZINE ?

I Decided following my research of music Institutions, universal music group would be the institution that would distribute my magazine. This is because they handle various types of music genres and musical enterprises, so are

sure to be able to handle the clash between Grime and Hip-Hop.

In general Universal music group have been around since 1934 but named as “Decca Records USA”. This would result in experience being able to get the

best results with distributing my magazine and gaining profits. Also UMG have recently been awarded with being branded “The biggest of the four music institutions” again this would help with attracting different people for the

magazine because of it being the biggest and best institution.