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

SoulMate

StereotypesPeople often associate soul music with black people. I do agree that there are a lot of black soul artists, but that doesn’t mean to say that only black people enjoy soul music. I think that some music magazines of this type of genre were wrong to assume that only black people would be interested in this and therefore were wrong to only focus the magazine towards black people.

I think that magazines such as Soul Underground ( which began publishing in 1987 yet ceased in 1991) failed as they failed to reach a wider audience that they had the potential to attract. I think that focusing only on black artists ( despite their dominance in the industry) caused a lack of diversity, meaning a loss in interest and market.

Artists such as Joss Stone, Paloma Faith, Justin Timberlake or Amy Winehouse were fantastic subjects to focus on and were very much part of the genre and in the moment. This sort of ethnic diversity within the magazine would allow the potential for a wider audience base.

Blue-eyed soul “(also known as white soul) is rhythm and blues and soul music performed by white artists.[1] The term was first used in the mid-1960s to describe white artists who performed soul and R&B that was similar to the music of the Motown and Stax record labels.” ( Wikipedia.com)

I think this is a genre that some people should be aware on and I think it is important to maintain a balance.

What I did????

I attempted to break down the barriers in which most would commonly associate with a magazine. In doing this, I mixed the articles and the artists of focus, so that there is a different range of people, ages and styles to attract as much interest as possible

However, I didn’t want my magazine too look so radical that no one would want to read it. I had to maintain the conventions of a music magazine. Such as using the thirds on the page, to section off each area of the magazine, and an attractive and enticing image, to attract the reader ,with the clear masthead ( to increase brand identity and reference) and creating a link throughout the entire magazine.

Changing the Model…

In a lot of magazines, not only soul magazines, there has always been a specific image of what a person is suppose to look like. Over the years, there has been a lot of controversy about this subject, and yet these false images of perfection have been replicated on a daily basis, despite the negative effect that it can have on some people.

That is something that I didn’t want for my magazine. I wanted to defy this look of perfection that often drives teenage girls crazy. I wanted a girl that looked real and was someone that my readers could relate. A real teenage girl. Amina was perfect in portraying that. To further defy this tradition, I kept Amina’s nail paint on her finger nails as a symbol of the reality of this girl and that she is not something to be intimidated.

Colour Styles…These are colours often associated with soul music. The brighter colours represent the passion and boldness of the music and the greyness can often show the subtlety and simplicity of the genre.

However to add my own sense of individuality to the genre, I used a predominantly bold purple, rather than the subtle sandy colours, to represent the individuality that this magazine has from other magazines and to make it sound out on the shelves.