Evaluation

Evaluation

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

When looking at my front cover, I can see that it makes use of conventions of real magazines that include features such as the way the main artist slightly covers the title of the magazine. I decided to make use of this as I feel it gives the cover an overall professional appearance and enables the artist to really dominate the page, I think this would cause any potential readers to pick up the magazine, knowing that there is a significant artist featured inside.

The artist on the cover is also portraying common forms of magazines by looking directly into the camera. This feature is very effective as the eye contact creates a connection between the artist and the reader; which is an element which I think would grab the attention of someone and draw them in to pick up the magazine. Another convention which I have utilized is the type of clothing that is displayed on the cover. The way my model is wearing a hoodie immediately suggests that the magazine has a youthful and rebellious genre, after looking at the clothing on many hip-hop magazine covers, slouchy clothes like hoodies are a common item used to represent this type of music.

A feature that I chose to utilize which is common in real magazines is a banner at the top of my front cover. I found this was a useful thing to have as it provided me with an area to add additional information without it covering any part of my image, as well as making my cover look more professional and realistic. I chose to fill this banner with poster freebies, another convention used within magazines. Freebies are something which would draw in a customer as the item included may be something they are interested in having.

I have also used a different style of banner above the text on my double page spread, which I feel is a development from generic double page spreads. I decided to use this to make it have an overall professional appearance as well giving the page a different but interesting layout. I used this banner as an area to inform the reader about my artists album and include ‘@VIXEN’; a twitter address in which readers can go to ‘follow’ and discover more about the artist.

The use of a website is something which I included in my magazine that I found to be a popular element within existing magazines. This alongside twitter offers other elements of media and technology that readers can use to find out more about the magazine itself and other articles it has done.

I would consider my chosen colour scheme as a development from conventions in existing magazines. Common and stereotypical colours someone would expect to be used for this genre of music may be reds or green, emphasising the relevance of money and violence involved in the background of the music. Whereas I have used quite a light but bold blue; I think it’s effective as it shows the reader an alternative perspective on hip hop and I think the use of this colour would cause the magazine to stand out to customers if it were sitting alongside magazines which use conventional colours.

Another development which I feel is effective within my magazine is the quote I have included on the side of my contents page. This quote originates from my main artists double page spread; I think it works well as it fits into the design of my magazine and it reminds the reader that ‘Vixen’ is the most significant element of it.

I feel that on the front cover, I have challenged the design of existing hip hop magazines with the placement of the barcode. Rather than having the barcode in the bottom corner of a page where it shouldn’t stand out too much, I have placed mine underneath the magazine name. I have only seen this once in one of my magazine researches, where I think it looks effective due to the way it fits in with the design and the colour scheme.

The name of my magazine ‘716’ is also an element which challenges conventions of hip hop magazines, as it isn’t immediately obvious what the name means, if anything. I chose 716 as it is the area code for West New York, which is one of the main areas that this genre of music originates from.

2.) How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My magazine represents the hip hop interested social group through the way of clothing. I had chosen my models to both wear hoodies as they are seen to be a representation of outcast youth and hip hop gang culture. They’re a controversial item of clothing which some people think displays power and success; where other people view them as being a symbol of menace and lawlessness. I think this will prove conventional for hip hop interested people, but also intriguing due to my chosen colour scheme. Trainers are another element of clothing which possibly represents this particular social group in the same way. 

The position of my model on my contents page also represents the stereotypical idea of youth today, leaning against a wall, hanging around with their hood up maybe showing he has something to hide. I think it’s effective as it shows the reader that appearance is irrelevant, considering the success of the artist featured in the magazine. 

The ethnicity of my chosen models may be seen to be challenging what you would usually expect in a hip hop magazine. People from my audience research had said that they wouldn’t usually envisage white British people to be featured in a hip hop magazine, considering the origins of the genre aren’t British. Yet I think it develops conventions in view of emerging artists from this ethnicity.

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

Frontline Ltd

“The UK’s leading magazine sales and Distribution Company”

They are the owner of the company Seymour, who is “The first choice distributor for independent publishers” who distribute for magazines like Q

4.) Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for my magazine would be those people who have an interest in hip hop music or even people who are just generally interested in hearing about different artists. Considering my magazine has photos in which are have camera shots other than close ups, readers are able to see the clothing of the artists which may catch their interest as well.

5.) How did you attract/address your audience?

As I have mentioned before, different elements of clothing are something that would attract my audience. I’d also say the ‘Plus!’ section that I have included on my front cover is something that would attract my audience as well as there is a list of different artists that are featured in the magazine, where one of those artists is bound to catch the eye of someone within my target audience. Also the quotes that I have used on the front cover and the contents page would attract my audience considering they fit into the style of my magazine, and add that extra element of interest; and they also give the reader a brief insight into what the article mentioned is about. Considering the quote comes from that particular story and no other in the magazine shows the reader how significant the artist is which may attract them and influence them to pick up the magazine to have a look.

Even the use of different Medias would attract and address my audience in a different way. Considering this magazine is aimed toward youth i.e. 16+, those who are more interested in new technologies, elements like websites and twitter gives them other platforms to visit so that they can find out more about the magazine and the artist that has been featured in it.

The positioning of my models is something which does so as well as you can see that my contents page contains a model who is leaning against a wall with his hood up, where stereotypically people would expect he had something to hide. This makes it an image that can be related to, so it interests potential readers. Whereas on my double page spread, the hand positioning can be seen as a generic pose, but even a gang sign, which is something commonly seen in hip hop music magazines that I have researched.

The use of including freebies and competitions would also interest people as, if they are something that my audience is interested in then it may influence them to take a look at the magazine.

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

The technologies I used in this process of creating a music magazine include: InDesign, Adobe Photoshop CS4, and SLR cameras. Beginning with the SLR cameras, I have learnt not only how to simply take photos, but I’ve learnt about the different features of the camera that each creates different effects on the images. These include for example, aperture (in which the opening on a camera lens can change in size depending on the amount of light you want to enter it) and shutter speed, even outside elements like the rule of thirds.

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I used Adobe Photoshop to alter and edit my photos that I included in my magazine, I commonly used effects such as the spot healing tool which let me remove any blemishes and also making adjustments to the brightness/contrast and the hue/saturation in order for my images to follow my colour scheme.

InDesign was used to place all of the elements I wanted in my magazine. It proved very useful for arranging each of the features so that I could lay them out in the best way possible.

7.) 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 previous task of creating a school magazine, I have learnt that there are many different codes and conventions that apply to different magazines, and the genres within them. I’ve discovered that each magazine differs even down to who is featured in in them and mise en scene including clothing and styling, positioning, expressions, etc can all give a different impression and effect on the reader.