AS Media magazine Evaluation

By Hafsa Abdalla

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

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real music magazines? My magazine is conventional in the sense of it using same colours and fonts as other existing music magazines. The double page spread I’ve done is structured like a typical article in a hip hop magazine. With the large photo on the left hand side of the page. My model is wearing a stereotypical hip hop outfit and this links back to my genre. My double page spread is conventional as its split into sections and predominantly dominated by texts , this is why I’ve decided to have one large eye catchy image on the image so the audience does not get over taken by the texts.

The reason why I done a conventional magazine is that so it does not look odd and unusual from other existing magazine but also look different and unique in a way so that it sells out

I created a large masthead that takes over part of the front cover so that the audience can clearly see it and make it appealing. I have used to colours and this was to make the magazine and also ‘’energy’’ to vividly stand out from the background and also the large image in the middle of the page.

The reason why there is an barcode on my magazine is to make it more realistic and give that reliable feeling. I believe that the use of this mainly conventional magazine with some unconventional features will make it look like other existing magazine and also give its own unique style.

Another way my magazine is conventional is using one large image. This is used in many existing music magazine genres to put emphasis on the focal story. This technique features in ‘’Vibe’’ and ‘’NME’’. This shows me that it is an effective method which worked for other top magazines.

How does your media product represent particular social groups ?

To get the right genre for my magazine I had to do a lot of research's of the type of genre people like and the most common genre. I did this by doing questionnaires of what magazine I should do and also I looked at magazines I have seen and what type of audience they’ve targeted and what ways they portrayed the magazine for a specific age group. The age group I have target my magazine to is between the ages of 13-25. The reason for this is because this is the age where most teenagers are interested in the music industry and grasp on the type of music they listen to and dress similar ways to their favour artists. I have decided to aim my magazine at both genders because I believe that it will sell out more copy’s with both genders buying it

The genre I have picked for my music magazine is hip hop. This is because in the research I have done it showed me that it’s a famous genre to teenagers and also I have found out that it bring the most income in the music industry through music magazines. Every music genre can be portrayed in different ways and you can see this by the children who listen to it and the way they dress and present themselves.

During the making of my magazine I wanted to attract the younger generation you can see this by the model I have used and the costume and also the setting in urban area. The colour and font type is also another way I have thought to attract my target audience. The reason why I chose this model is because the younger generation can relate to it and feel that this magazine is made for them. The costume I have made my model wear is the type of clothing a younger person would wear and also there are people who listen to a particular music just for the cloth the artist is wearing.

I thought about the stories I would put on my front cover so it interests the reader. As for my target audience they would be more interest in reading gossips that they can relate to and the lifestyle of celebrities or other interesting information that would attract their eyes and make them want to read more therefore they will buy the magazine.

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

When it came to my magazine there were number of institution I have thought about that might distribute my magazine. I have decided to research media institutions that are specialized in music magazines. I have found that ‘’musicmags’’ is an institution that deals with a number of different musical aspects which suits my magazine

Since my music magazine is being sold with a number of other magazines that are similar to it I reckon that it may boost the sales of my magazine and therefore might make a massive profit in the industry. Especially as musicmags distribute to America and canada and this could help my magazine to become sold internationally and help promote the artist featured inside.

Some of the magazine that they already distributed may be similar to mine and that could be an issue for them not wanting to distribute mine and they may wish to try something new and different. Also another disadvantage could be that only a certain number of retailers supply the magazine and it could be a loss of profit

After all music mags seems like the right institution that could distribute my magazine as its specifically specializes in music magazines

Who would the audience be for your media product?

The audience for my magazine would be both genders and around the ages of 13-25 . Although my magazine contains a bright colour scheme which may attract the younger ages than I have expected. The music genre itself is aimed at mid teens so this would be my target audience

Although the model featured in the front cover is in his late teens this links back to the target audience I have targeted. By me having an image of the people I am trying to attract throughout, the people who reflect the images used may be attracted to my magazine.

Whilst planning the making of my magazine. I have thought about attracting people of all ages and genders and this is why I chose to do this. So therefore if my magazine is successful a young audience who like hiphop music.

As I have called my magazine’’ energy’’ it may attract an quirky and lively audience. As hiphop artist I usually quiet energetic.

I have wrote about topics that may attract the younger generation that they would be interested in reading about . Also I’ve done a interview with the upcoming young artist Diggy

How did you attract /address the target audience

I did research into existing magazine and how they attract and address the target audience for their magazines so that I could incorporate similar ideas into my own magazine. I incorporated the ideas used by magazines with my own personal ideas of what I believe makes a good magazine.

I decided that the main thing my magazine should have is a title which will attract the audience. I surveyed a number of people from my target audience to help me choose a appropriate name and colour scheme for my masthead. I chose a number of colour schemes that spring to mind when I think of hip hop music as a whole. I asked my target audience I have surveyed to choose which one they thought was good and they believed it was ‘’energy’’. Using the colour scheme I decided that my magazine should have the urban look.

Firstly, I took the idea of having my masthead on the top left of the page from NME of my magazine. So that it is easy for the readers to be caught by the masthead.

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

There are many things I have learnt from the process of constructing this product in a whole which were making my own account of blogger and also I’ve learnt how to use Photoshop in a professional way. I have learnt how to upload my work in to drop box and also scribe with images. I Have learnt a lot when it came to using Photoshop and perfecting a image and how well quality can be improved through little adjustment. For example the sharpened tool helped me to fix any poor images. The saturation tool helped me bring images to live and make it exciting.

The drop shadow tool also is another tool that helped during the making of my magazine. It made the text in my front cover look so much diverse and professional.

Before this I never really had any experience when it came to taking pictures or using a professional camera but now it has helped me to make my magazine look more realistic.

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

I have learnt the actual conventions of music magazines better. In the prelim I didn’t really have no idea where to place things, in the my actual production I knew what was exactly meant to go where due to the research I’ve done before starting.

I have learnt how to manage my time. Although in the prelim I didn’t have that much time to produce the magazine. Whereas in my music magazine I’ve done a lot of planning and research.

I learnt how to set a professional camera and use it professionally also add affects and zoom tool to get accurate shot.

I’ve learnt that planning and research pays off as it reflects on the final piece. So when it came to the actual magazine I looked in depth at other existing magazines in the same genre as mine to ensure I was getting my magazine right. This made my magazine achieve the standard of quality I hoped for.