2011-12 LMED7 Sharon

Q1: IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE,DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS FOR REAL M,EDIA PRODUCTS?

Forms and conventions are rules which make a magazine stand out and recognisable to an audience. When starting this project, I looked at existing music magazines and analysed how they used codes and conventions to attract there target audience. I used many codes and conventions to imitate those of real media texts so that my products looked professional. One of the conventions I used in my magazine that is conspicuous in many music magazines is the masthead at the top of the magazine; I used a particular front that I downloaded from dafont.com, this will help me attract my target audience as it is dominating and stands out to them in shops. I chose a font with sound waves as my masthead this makes it easily recognisable to my audience. The font I used is feedback loud, in chose this font because it gives the masthead a more edgy look which is suitable for my target audience

Another magazine convention used was a selling line. Mostly it is used by most music magazines as it briefly explains to the reader what the magazine focuses on also promotes the magazine. Another way to communicate and help attract my target audience is through the selling line as it tells the audience what my magazine focuses on. My selling line reads ‘#1SOURCE FOR HIP HOP’ this clearly communicates with the audience.

I used a barcode and date line in my magazine in order to follow the conventions of a magazine.

I used cover lines in order to attract my audience, this is another convention used in magazines, this gives an insight into what will feature in the magazine they also attract my target audience because they are eye-catching and short. I used the same font for all my cover lines except for the main cover line as it the magazines feature. The image and cover line act as part of the main selling point of the magazine that’s why it has to stand out from the rest. In most magazines cover lines are arranged vertically in the left third and the right of the front cover. I did this so that it wouldn’t detract from the image and so that the left side wouldn’t be too busy.

Another popular music magazine convention is to use a medium long shot for the dominant image. I chose to use this because it makes the image more intimate and it creates an illusion of being close to the model. The way in which the models are posing suits and draws in my target audience.

For my contents page I developed real magazine convention. I included categories vertically arranged around my contents page, this makes the page look very neat and organised also it’s a very popular convention used in music magazines. Another widely used convention in real magazines is other images, this helps illustrate the other issues discussed in the magazine. This also determines whether the reader continues to read the magazine. I included more that relate to the front cover to give it a sense of continuity.

My double page spread develops and uses conventions. I used a simple colour scheme separate to my front cover and content page as it is creates a professional look. Also, I used arranged my article in one column with a headline and stand first

Q2: HOW DOES TOUR MEDIA PRODUCT REPRESENT PARTICULAR SOCIAL GROUPS?

My music magazine is made for a target audience of both male and female aged 16-25 who are devoted listeners of Hip hop. This particular social group was represented throughout the images I used in my magazine. The models on the front cover represent particular social groups in different ways.

This is done through the clothing of the two models; they are wearing fashionable clothes to the genre of music such as G-star hoodie, Lyle and Scott hat and jeans with trainers. This looks suggests masculinity and which is a stereotypically associated with male artists of hip hop like Lil Wayne, the game and J Cole. Not only are the clothes are masculine but they are laid back and casual, this is typically the style of this hip hop genre. The clothes are quiet fashionable particularly hoodie and jeans, which represent this particular social group and sum up the genre as artists of this genre and listeners of it are fashionable and have this particular style

When it comes to the topic of ethnicity and gender, the magazine target an audience that have a passion for the hip hop music genre, even though Hip Hop music is usually associated with black people, BASE magazine targets different races and genders equally. This makes my magazine more relevant and accessible.

Q3: WHAT KIND OF MEDIA INSTITUTION MIGHT DISTRIBUTE YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT AND WHY?

From the publishing house case study; in the planning and research stage of my coursework, I assume Condé Nast publications would be most likely to distribute and publish my magazine because Condé Nast publications don’t publish music magazines, this would enable them to enter a new market and target an even wider audience by publishing my magazine. Condé Nast publications publish magazines such as Vogue, glamour and Vanity Fair which widely involve in culture and fashion. Even though my magazine focuses on music, fashion and culture are a large part of hip hop; so my magazine would be suitable for them. Condé Nast publications target a rich audience, my magazine targets a younger audience. Also Condé Nast publishing my hip hop music magazine this would expand the company.

Secondly, as Condé Nast publications distributes and publishes my magazine this would be essential for the company financially and popularity wise as it’s tapping into a wide audience that none of its magazines target, this would increase their profits as their would be no competition with the company in that market.

I would distribute my magazine in retail stores such as HMV and online stores such as iTunes and Amazon. This will be because HMV is one of the largest music stores in the UK for music lovers. Also by selling my magazine on online stores such as iTunes and Amazon will be useful to make my magazine accessible to my audiences all over the world as Condé Nast publications presents and operates with different media outlets geographically.

Q4: WHO WOULD BE THE AUDIENCE FOR YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT?

The audience for my media product would be targeted at a young age of 16-25 US and UK audience. This is because Britain and America have a very strong hip hop music scene and US hip hop artists dominate the hip hop scene world wide.

I chose to target a younger audience as the “artists” featured on the contents of my magazine are most likely to appeal to younger audience as they are relatively artists like Drake and Nicki Minaj. On the other hand my magazine would also appeal to an older audience because it discusses all issues surrounding the Hip Hop genre like concert, parties and music awards; this is a common convention of the hip hop scene.

Q5: HOW DID YOU ATTRACT/ADDRESS YOUR AUDIENCE?

I attracted my audience in different ways. Firstly, I attracted my audience through my front cover as it determines whether my audience decide to purchase my magazine. I attracted them through the front cover by choosing models that are around the same age as the target audience so they could relate with the models. The models on my front cover are attractive; which also helps to attract my audience. He models on my front cover are wearing clothes that represent a style associated with Hip Hop.

Secondly I attracted my audience focusing on U.S and British hip hop music scene. I showed this through the cover lines and the issues that I discussed throughout the magazine. Furthermore, I used well known names in my magazines to help attract my target audience. For example one of my cover lines read “WHATS WRONG WITH NEW YORK HIP HOP” I know this would appeal to my target audience because it focuses on hip hop and New York as it is the one of the main hip hop cities in the world. I also included new artists such as Nicki Minaj and Drake who right now are the hottest new artist founded in New York.

Throughout my magazine I used different ‘Niagra fonts’ to give my magazine a edgy but contemporary look, which worked well with the genre of music I chose to create my magazine on. Particularly I used the feedback font I downloaded from dafont.com for my masthead to create a edgy and recognisable trademark look for my magazine so my target audience can be attracted to its individuality an recognise it easily.

Q6: WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT ABOUT TECHNOLOGIES FROM THE PROCESS OF CONSTRUCTING THIS PRODUCT?

By constructing my magazine I learnt a lot about technology that helped me construct my magazine. First I learnt how to use a canon E0S 400D camera too take all my images. I used this camera for my preliminary task and I learnt more about the camera and how to use it to create effects. All my pictures where taken in one location which was a room with black background to give it stability and to imitate real magazines.

To create the desired effect and good quality pictures I had to be aware of how bright the location would be and timing. When I was using the canon camera for my pictures I found it easier to increase the brightness of the pictures, and the flash to enhance the quality of the images. One of the main issues I had whilst using the camera was keeping it steady and timing when to take the pictures for my double page spread as the money was thrown over the models. I didn’t have a tripod or something to keep the camera steady so it was difficult for me to achieve a good quality image, they often turned out blurry and out of focus. For example in one of my un-manipulated photos

Another technology that I learnt to use was Photoshop. I found that I learnt a lot of new skills from the use of Photoshop as my skills were very limited before the constructing my magazine. I used PHOTOSHOP CS3 EXTENDED to construct my product. Firstly I used the quick selection and magic wand to edit the image on the front cover, and then I adjusted the brightness/ contrast by adjusting the image levels this I done for the double and contents page also.

I also learnt that Photoshop was very useful in creating JPEG files which was needed to upload images to my blog, as Blogger does not accept images unless a JPEG file and uploaded. I used Photoshop to convert my graphs to JPEG. Also how to extract and install a font into Photoshop so I could use it; something I have never done before. Correspondingly I learnt how to use the stroke tool, which I developed in making particular texts stand out for example the subject names.

Q7: LOOKING BACK AT THE PRILIMINARY TASK WHAT DO YOU FEEL YOU HAVE LEARNT IN THE PROGRESSION FROM IT TO A FULL PRODUCT?

Since my preliminary task I have learnt many skills that helped me progress to my full magazine product. One of the things that I have learnt that has significantly improved my magazine is learning the codes and convections of a music magazine. By looking back at my preliminary task it shows that I was very unclear of the conventions and me carrying out these conventions were really poor. For instance, although I included a masthead and cover lines it didn’t look like a magazine but more like a thrown together poster.
I also learnt to use one of the main tools in the process from my preliminary task to the final product, that helped develop my music magazine was Photoshop which was something I was not skilful with when constructing my preliminary task, Photoshop helped to improve the quality of my music magazine too make it look more professionalised I was also able to manipulate images to my advantage; which I could not do for my preliminary task. MY preliminary task only consists of a front cover and contents page whereas my music magazine included a double page spread with a front cover and contents page .Since my preliminary task I also learnt how to use a Canon E05 400D camera effectively to capture good quality images. When it comes to my preliminary task I did not really know how to use the camera which was a barrier.
Through the progression from my preliminary task to my “BASE” magazine I have learnt how to attract my target audience and include them in my final product, this is something I did not do to my highest ability in my preliminary task. I also learnt how to focus my magazine on a particular social group, my music magazine has a specific target audience which I was able to focus and make suited to the target group. Whereas for my preliminary task my target audience was a wide audience. This means that I had to research my target audience and put a lot of thought in how I was going to attract and represent them to my music magazine.