Magazine Evaluation

By Adam Jacques

Introduction

• My project was to create a music magazine of a specific genre.

• I picked the genre of hip-hop and rap but to change the normal stereotypes that go with the genre

Genre and Conventions

• The genre I chose to focus on was hip-hop, but to chance the normal stereotypes of gangs and the gangster and turn that into a more classier version of the same genre.

• I used many of he conventions that are used in real magazines.

Conventions used on the front cover.• The masthead is at the top of the magazine and is

big to attract the reader to the magazine.• There is a slogan used under the main banner which

tells you what the magazine is all about. Although there is no slogan under the vibe magazine.

• There is usually a barcode with a date on the front cover also there is no barcode on the front of the vibe magazine.

• bright, interesting and eye catching to entice its readers into buying the magazine.

• One star is used on the front cover- direct address is used by the artist

• There is usually on main caption which I have used which is linked to the star on the front of the magazine.

• All the other subheadings of articles appear on the left or right hand side like they do here. The vibe magazine uses these sub headings on both sides of the artists.

• Used the colours red, black and white as in my research these were the colours that represented the genre. These colours are used in many magazines that deal with the hip hop genre which is seen in the vibe magazine

• Used a variety of fonts on the front cover to make it visually interesting

Conventions used on my Contents Page.• Should be bright and colourful-

encouraging the reader to read on, mine isn’t really bright and colourful as the colour that go with the genre aren’t very colourful. Which can also be seen in the professional contents page.

• Images dominate the text. Images with page numbers dominate the page. Same with the professional vibe contents page although the professional only uses one image.

• This time no direct address is used I did this to make a bit of mystery for the reader.

• The title or header usually appears on every page (usually at top corner)

• List of contents- usually under specific sections which I didn’t use but can be seen in the vibe contents page.

Convention used in the main feature article.

• Headlines and subheadings to explain the story and catch the audiences interest. Which is also usd in the 50 Cent feature

• Images dominate the page normally with Big one and other smaller ones but I thought to have medium sized ones to show that the artist is big. I used multiple picture compared to the professional magazine that only used one picture to pull the reader in

• Text grabs are used to make the reader read the article and are normally Controversial, funny or rude. These are used in the professional magazine also and are interesting text grabs to pull the reader in.

• The language of the writing conveys the type of artist very well and makes the article more believable

Genre changes• Normally the genre of hip hop is seen as all about

Gangs, bad language and bead intentions what I tried to do with my magazine is invent this genre to appeal to a more upper-class group of people but still appeal to the ‘Gangsters’.

• I used suits to create a classier look for the artists• I used a font type that is more elegant to portray the

changes I was trying to make.• I did this to try to keep the genre fresh and change it

as my artist wants to do.

Audience feedback

• I believe the choices I made to change the genre worked well.

• As the audience feedback I got showed that although the changes I made were quite drastic they audience still knew what type of genre I was trying to portray.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?• In my magazine I am trying to represent a

artist who rose from the streets my rapping but now is changing things to prove that you can change things, to go from the streets to suits and cars

• So I am portraying the high class of hip hop with the suits and champagne but at the roots by the way my artist speaks it links to all of hip-hop.

Typical hip hop artist compared to the artist I created

Representation of the artist• I used suits to show that the genre was

being dragged from the streets up to the heights of royalty.

• The props I used like the cigar makes him look like a boss someone who is in charge.

• The crown is important as it shows that he is the king a rapper who is royalty.

• The fedora used also shows a side of the music making him look like a gentleman instead of a old fashion Gangster.

• The poses that are used make him look strong and dominant like a boss.

• The setting that is used is just a black backdrop which shows he is ahead of all other artists and he has broken through the wall of the image of hip-hop and has broken through to the upper-class vision of the genre.

• The speech used by the artist is the only thing that doesn’t comply with the gentleman and royal style this relates him back to the streets and the people there who will buy the magazine.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product?

• IPC seemed the most likely institution to publish my magazine as they have a large diversity of media interests.

• IPC also distributes NME, due to this i believe that the unique premise of my magazine would be an appealing investment to the institution.

• Also due to the international fame of IPC I would be able to get advertising for my magazine through lots of other magazines and TV shows through synergy

Who would be the audience for your media product?

• Name- Dwayne Carter• Age-23• Profession-junior banker• Favorite clothing- suits, upper class clothing• Hobbies-Golf, Basketball, American football, football, Clubbing• Favorite TV/movies- everybody hates Chris, get rich or die

trying, notorious• Favorite music genres- Hip Hop, Rap and RnB• Favorite albums-50 Cent-get rich or die trying, Lil Wayne- Tha

Carter 3• Favorite Drink- Champagne or Hennessey

Demographic and psychographic profiling for my magazine.

• Demographic profile of my magazines audience:-• Gender-Male• Age- 15-20• Geographical- London• Socio-economic group- B and C I have chosen this group as these are the

groups that will have a little money to spare to be able to get the luxury goods that are advertised and the artists have in my magazine.

Psychographic profiling:-• The group that my magazine is aimed at is the Aspirers (these people are

motivated by status. They buy smart, high tech and high fashion goods) I have chosen this group as my magazine is going to show this side of hip hop with the expensive fashion, cars, tech and champagne. So the readers will aspire to get the things that the artists have in the magazine.

Why this Group?• The black middle to upper class is a good group to have as a

audience.• As most of this group will like hip hop in one sort or another• They are a rather large group• They are a reasonably wealthy group so not only will buy the

magazine but will also invest in all the advertisements in the magazine.

• I also have a secondary audience and that is the lower class black or white teenager who like hip hop who can aspire to what they see in the magazine.

How the cover attracts• There is a large short striking title

that most people have heard of which will hook the reader in right away,

• The main picture is very striking with the crown shadow catching peoples attention wondering what the story I about.

• The stories that are used on the front are the most interesting and the use of highlighting the important words in the subheading gives the reader a quick way to see the most interesting things that are in the magazine.

• The colours used are associated with the genre of hip hop so any one looking for the genre will easily be able to pick the magazine out

How the contents page attracts• On the contents page all the important

stories in the magazine are shown. Only the most interesting stories are shown on the contents page like world tours or the downfall of a certain celebrity to really make the reader carry on.

• And the main stories that are in this article are shown with a picture to draw the reader in quickly and intrigue the reader into reading into the picture.

• The colours again are used to attract the reader

• The pictures a re striking with the artists making striking poses that bring the readers in

• The layout is very simple with the main stories being highlighted so the reader can easily see the important stories and they can see them instantly.

The title is a brash statement making the reader read more into it.

The main article is mainly answers from the artist to keep the reader interested and not get bored of to many questions

I placed the pictures throughout the page to give a sense of randomness to keep the reader guessing like they wont expect from the magazine or the artist

Each shot is cut out from it background to show the reader that the artist is more important than his background

The structure of the article will keep the mainstream layout with Q/A this will keep the readers interested and the color swap between the questions and answers will keep the text fresh for the reader

The quotation boxes give the reader a quick injection of the story that will make them want to read the whole article

I believe that the highlighted king stands out and grabs the readers interest right away

The plain background that gives a smoky feel to the magazine allows the text and pictures to not be overpowered and doesn’t make the text or pictures hard to see or read.

Only the main picture uses direct address that is used to show the artist is in control

Technologies usedThe technologies I used are: - • Nikon D90 Digital camera - SLR with Live View mode, movie recording -

12.3 Mega pixel - 5.8 x optical zoom • Photoshop • InDesign • Photographic lighting • Microsoft Word• Microsoft Excel • Microsoft PowerPoint • Google

Photo-shoot technologies• Nikon D90 Digital camera - SLR with Live View mode,

movie recording - 12.3 Mega pixel - 5.8 x optical zoom- this professional camera allowed me to get the highest quality of pictures in the studio. This gave me a great start on my magazine as the good photos gave me a great bas to start my magazine on.

• Photographic lighting- the professional lighting in the studio allowed me to create the shadow on my artist that were integral to the style I was going for in my magazine

• Professional studio- this allows me a quiet space with all the equipment that I needed to get the quality of pictures that I wanted.

Photo editing technologies • Photoshop- this allowed me to edit my photos to

the great detail that I needed. It allowed me to cut the artist out from the background with great precision and accuracy. Another thing it allows me to do was to darken up the shadows so they stood out more. The main tools that I used was the cutting tool to be able to cut out my artist from the boring backgrounds also I used a tool that allowed me to be able to darken up the shadows so they stand out more.

• InDesign- this is the program that I used to put together the pages of my magazine. It allowed me to edit any part of the pages so that the style that I wanted could be imprinted upon the page.

Research and Audience Feedback Technologies

• Microsoft word- I used word to create all the questions that I used to gather audience feedback. And also word was helpful with trying to pick out fonts for my magazine.

• Microsoft excel- excel was used to turn all my audience feedback into easy to understand graphs that can at a glance show my audience feedback.

• Microsoft PowerPoint- PowerPoint was used to create my evaluation as it was the easier program to use to get all my evaluation across

• Google- Google was used in the research stage and was used to gather up similar magazine and articles of my genre so that I could study them and see what styles kept coming up across all formats.

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

product?• There is a better layout on my final

task as on my preliminary its looks a little bare.

• The lighting on the final product is a lot better as it makes the artist look like the light is shining on him.

• The color scheme on my final product looks a lot more professional although it may not stand out as much as my brightly colored preliminary task

• There is a larger and better selection of fonts on my final product.

• On my final product the image on the front is a lot more interesting with the shadow crown this would make may audience see the cover and be interested to read the magazine

Conclusion • Strengths- the pictures look very professional, the color scheme

looks very professional and works well, the article is does very well to represent the genre, all the fonts are very professional.

• Weakness- the only weakness that I believe that my product suffers from is the lack of pictures on the contents page I believe that more pictures would of made it a lot more professional.

• All in all I believe that my product looks very professional and that I comes very close to the real life product. As all the editing is very professional as so are the pictures. And I believe it is the pictures that turned out the best as they are exactly what I envisioned and they looks very professional