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

My magazine has an authentic style for a music magazine. It has iconic elements that would be used in a magazine, such as articles, contents, front cover and iconic images for a music magazine, for instance having a recording studio in the photo set. I have thrown in eye catching elements, which would attract the reader into reading articles. Furthermore I have used the magazine's logo on every page, which the reader will be able to recongnise and see what type of magazine it is because it relates to the brand identification. I wouldn't say my media product challenges the conventions of a typical music magazine but it certainly follows them and develops them, it hasn't done anything different that wouldn't be seen in a typical magazine. Anything new or ground breaking that could have been done, would at some point be linked back to a music magazine somewhere in time because music magazines have so many similarities, it is unusual to come up with a new idea but instead are just written or approached in a different way. However I feel that my magazine would be viewed as a typical and traditional hip hop magazine and that it shows and expands on authentic traits of hip hop music, such as the title "Treble" which sounds like it has something to do with the urban music scene but it also sounds original and shows that creativity can be found in a music magazine.

Originally I planned to have the top design as my masthead but I thought it looked more suitable for a younger persons magazine as the design looks more eye-catching for a child's point of view, this led me to pick the bottom design as it looks more authentic to the music genre and I also added a variety of different colours so that it would standout to a audience and with the neon glow around the title, which would draw the readers into purchasing it as it looks more adult and it also looks more suitable for a hip hop magazine as it follows key conventions of other hip hop magazines (such as "VIBE") that I have analysed earlier in my blog.

Magazine Evaluation: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My media product represents a urban and modern up-to-date social group, this is because the hip hop genre is a very changeable style of music and a constantly different feel to it, sometimes it can be soft and other times it can be intense, this is why it needs a very quick and understanding audience, that are going to hear new songs in the hip hop style all the time. Therefore it is most likely listened to by young males from inner city areas, this is because of the constant contact they have with music, whether it's over the internet, radio or television, there is a strong garuntee that they will come into some hip hop musical contact throughout the day because the sound of hip hop is so global and it's also promoted very well. The hip hop genre is furthermore know by young males because many of their friends listen to it and therefore it would have an influence for them to listen to it and it would spread from all different types of male social groups. To conclude this, there are also female social groups that like the hip hop genre and would therefore listen to it over various different types of media, but this group would possible be more limited than the male group. Therefore my media product doesn't represent a social group, instead it represents a variety of different younger generations of social groups.

My front cover was a perfect example of how my magazine represented social groups, you can tell from the title "Treble" that it surrounds the hip hop genre. This is because the style of hip hop  incorporates a lot of treble and base into it so I thought it was fitting to name it after a iconic convention. The reader can also make links that it's directed at a urbanised audience that expect it to be a hip hop magazine because my models impose themselves onto the scene and give the cover a serious look, furthermore to garuntee the iconography of hip hop i got them to dress up in dark baggy clothing which is commonly seen in hip hop music videos.

Magazine Evaluation: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

I think that the Bauer Media Group would be the most likely distributors of my magazine, this is because Bauer publish men's magazines and don't publish in the female category of magazines. I feel that my magazine is aimed at a more male orientated music audience, a greater proportion of men would be likely to buy "Treble" than females. This is due to the fact that it is a hip hop music magazine and more men tend to listen to hip hop music than women. Also the artists and images featured in my music magazine are all males, this is due to it being a very male dominated type of music, with very few female hip hop artists. This would be less persuasive for most women to buy it over men because if they see images of men throughout the whole magazine they might feel uncomfortable and out of place reading it. To sum up the above reasons in why I think it would be published by Bauer is because in essence it is targeted at a male group.

Magazine Evaluation: Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience that my media product would be aimed at are; people who are interested in music and specifically hip hop music, typically this would be targeted at a young audience such as teenagers or people in their 20's. This is because traditionally it has always been a audience around that age that show an interest in the hip hop genre. However the magazine can be for any audience who shows a interest in the hip hop genre, from the casual fans to the veteran supporters. Readers can get engrossed in it, and it doesn't matter if you don't know much about hip hop as it isn't an advanced reading subject and is easy to understand. It does use slang words though, that would possibly be used by the younger generation but it isn't confusing to older readers understanding, as the slang is easy to get to grips with. Therefore the magazine is traditionally aimed at a young generation but older people can read as it is easy and light reading, with short, sharp statements and sentences.

My "Top Topics" section of my contents page shows what kind of audience I was aiming my magazine at, "interviews with some of the biggest rappers in the UK" and "LEGEND reveals his new type of rapping" implies that it is a hip hop magazine. I was careful in making my genre known throughout production of my magazine, I feel that I mentioned typical conventions of hip hop through the duration of my magazine, I did this so that my reader could feel at ease reading my articles and so that the articles always remained on the topic.

Magazine Evaluation: How did you attract/address your audience?

I attracted my audience to my magazine by using eye-catching colours against a darker background, which stands out as a music magazine because it follows a trend of other music magazines. I changed the design of my masthead and filled it with lots of different colours with a dark glow around it, which gives it a distinctive look and gives it the impact of coming out of the front cover, this is implying that it has a 3D tint to it with all the different colours. I also layered star shapes into the background of my main image of the magazine, which has the same effect as the title; the image is pushed out of the page and is to draw the audience in and convince them to buy it. Moreover I have included eye catching statements on the front cover which makes the audience want to purchase and read the magazine. Elements like

42 Hip Hop songs You Need to Listen To!

helps to draw the reader in and convinces them to read on, I created this text by just changing the font to "Comic Sans MS" and changing the colour of the text to a light blue, this portrayed my magazine as a standout cover, as the contrast between the blue text and blue background helped it appeal well to target audiences. Also I have addressed my audience by creating a interview with a fictional hip hop artist, this takes up my 2 page spread and enables me to show the readers that I'm aiming this at them so that they can learn about the artists story and also how to break into the music industry. Images of my music artist are featured throughout my magazine, showing him as the key feature and main attraction of my magazine, the audience would realise this and if they were undecided on purchasing the magazine then the interview would be the deciding factor on whether they would buy it or not, if they had an interest in the artists life then they would buy it. On the other hand if they weren't interested they would be less inclined to buy the magazine.



This is the final and completed front cover for my music magazine, I made quiet a few changes to it from my original draft, this was due to the feedback I received which implied that the front cover of my magazine was dull and not appealing to the target audience which were young hip hop enthusiasts. People said that on my original draft, the colours that I used didn't enhance the strengths of my magazine and that I was using weak colours on a dark background. This persuaded me to change around some things on my magazine; such as the background was changed to light because the image was dark, I also had really bright colours put against the dark image so that it gives it a standout appeal. 

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

I have learnt how to use a blog via the website http://www.blogger.com/. Also Macromedia Fireworks and Photoshop helped me edit things like my masthead, subtitles and my images. I got the logos for my masthead and subtitles from dafont (http://www.dafont.com/) and created the name for my magazine. I also gave the titles and page numbers borders by pasting them onto Microsoft Word and changing their design, with this I also coloured the border and the words with a range of different colours from Word. On Photoshop I edited peoples faces to make it look more colourful, I did this by copying a certain part of their face and then using that skin tone on other parts of their faces. Furthermore I got rid of backgrounds by using fireworks, with the application tool called "magic wand". This erases the background and leaves it with nothing behind the image I want to keep.

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

From my prelimenary task I felt my magazine didn't use authentic and iconic magazine styles for the school magazine genre, the stories that it offered weren't eye catching and I felt that I could improve them for my full product. I learnt to have more iconic photos for my main magazine and speak about more interseting articles in my main product, also I used eye catching statements and colours aswell that I didn't use in my preliminary task. I didn't edit my pictures in my priliminary task but then I learnt that using the programme Macromedia Fireworks (http://tryit.adobe.com/fireworks/)  helped me to edit my images so I could get rid of any red eye, or any background I didn't want, such as the green screen. Also another thing I learnt was having a more convincing and traditional front cover with a more genuine masthead.

 

 

 

The top image is of my preliminary task and the bottom image is of my finished music magazine, I feel that there has been a vast improvement from my preliminary task and I now feel that my music magazine looks like a magazine that somebody would purchase in a store. I feel that it uses key conventions and signifiers at a professional level compared to a lower quality in the preliminary task.

Music magazine questionnaire for feedback and improvements

Magazine Questionnaire

1) Is this an iconic music magazine?

2) What are the magazines strong points?

3) How could it be improved?

4) Does it look like a typical music magazine from the hip hop genre?

5) Do you think it’s aimed at a particular age audience? If yes, how old approximately?

6) Do you think that it is aimed at either sexes or one more than the other?

7) If it wasn’t aimed at both sexes, would you like to see more female artists in the magazine?

8) Would you be prepared to buy the magazine monthly or a one off if something interested you inside it?

9) Would you like to see more pictures or more text?

10) Would you like to have more information on live music?

Questionnaire Feedback

To improve my magazine I need to edit my masthead, by cropping out the white patches. Also my front cover image is too small and needs to fill the front page completely. Moreover I need to check and change the layout of my writing and fix any spelling mistakes, this could include re-wording some sentences, so they make sense. Furthermore I need to get rid of some green bits around the images as it gives it a neon colouring, which I don't want.The positives of my magazine are that it looks like a authentic music magazine and also my pictures are of a decent standard and aren't pix-elated. Lastly I would grade my magazine at around a D grade, I would like to achieve at least a C grade.

My Magazine - The Original Draft and the Finished Product

The pictures on the left are from the original product, whereas the pictures on the right are from the finished product. The front cover of the magazine has been the page that has mostly changed, this was due to feedback from classmates who said that it didn't look like a official magazine that would be bought in stores, it had too much information in the form of text so i decided to change it to short, sharp and intriguing statements. Also the colour of the red text didn't have eye-catching features against the background as it was originally a dark background, I decided to get rid of all the text along the side as there was too much of it, and I also put in a free offer for posters which is a ploy that magazines use to sell their product, this implies that my magazine follows the conventions of a typical music magazine. I have removed the stars out of the background because there seemed to be too many things going on, on the front cover so that the reader may not of been able to focus on one specific part of the colour. I furthermore enlarged the image of my two artists as it was too small and didn't cover the whole page and left too many blank spaces that wouldn't be seen on a typical music magazine.

I only changed minor things on the contents pages such as the colour and style of the font, I changed the colour because red didn't contrast well to the light blue background and the style was made more bold so that it would stand out to the readers and draw them, it was also a more simple style so that it was easier to read because in my feedback, people said that they had difficulty reading it as the writing was small and cramped. My two page spread didn't follow typical conventions of magazines as it didn't originally have columns and the image on the second page wasn't facing into the magazine but facing off the page, I felt that this photograph put readers off because psychologically the photograph was facing the wrong way, as in if the image was facing the off the page then it wouldn't capture the reader to make them read on in the interview. I also change some of the font colours to make things stand out and also change the layout of some pictures to make it look more like a conventional magazine. I used photoshop to edit some of my pictures as some of my models had red eye in certan images, other pictures had certain blemishes on their faces from the camera flash. Here is a link to where you can download photoshop http://tryit.adobe.com/uk/photoshopfamily/?sdid=IBFIW. I used Microsoft publisher for my main development for my magazine and I put all of my work onto publisher, this is because getting used to publisher is easy and also the options on publisher are simple to use. Here is a link that can download you the publisher service: http://emea.microsoftstore.com/UK/en-GB/Microsoft/Publisher-2010