My research that i did before i started making my media product was good, because it made me understand the conventions of the genre of my music. If i didn't do this research i don't think i would have completed my task to such a level that i could have done. The conventions i had followed was a Hip-Hop/RnB genre which modelled my front cover of the magazine which was the same as XXL has modelled theirs. This is shown from my front cover.
As you can see there are a lot of similarities within my front cover and XXL magazine, if you put both covers together you will be able to see this.
Throughout the project i took into account the conventions (click on conventions to see visual form) of the magazine are quite simple and its not too flashy.
When it came to my contents page i looked at many Hip-Hop contents pages so i could get a rough idea on what i wanted to do. Most of the contents pages were plain and not to flashy. With my contents page i chose a white back ground with a bit of black along the side, i did this to keep the contents plain, i also had red subheadings just so it would match the writing of the front cover, making it different to other magazine and unique in its own ways. The pictures that are used in the contents page i photographed myself and i also added in a bold contents sign to add professionalism. Having the contents sign along the bottom going across the picture is good as it draws the readers attention to the picture and make the audience appreciate the way the picture is taken. Also the writing of the contents page relates to the genre of music.
My media product uses conventions of real media products by being very standard and not to flashy, also stuck to a sort of similar font and some colour schemes.
My magazine has been designed for people who love listening to Hip-Hop music and that enjoy going to concerts or events around Bristol or the UK to listen to famous rap artists. Everything that is written in the magazine is to appeal to the target audience of an age from 17-25 year olds, and this has represented my target audience to be very informal and streetwise. I have also represented young asians in this to be independent, also sometimes living a life of struggle due to people stereotyping Asians. Also most people describe young asian people to be very rebellious and people to cause trouble.
A group called WorldWide Magazine Distributors (WWMD) will distribute my magazine. WWMD is a joint venture business owned by the major UK newspaper and magazine wholesaler. The core business of this firm is the supply of UK published magazines to around 8,000 specialist retailers in the UK and overseas. They will distribute my magazine because the genre of Hip-Hip is big in the music world to a lot of people and WWMD is a big distributor that will distribute my product, they will also distribute my product is because Hip-Hop has become more commercial over the years, so it is more well known and is likely to make a lot of money and this type of genre is quite main stream.
The audience for my magazine will be from the age of 17-26 year olds who are interested in Hip-Hop music. People who listen to Hip-Hop music have and wear different clothes and they also dress differently, like looking at XXL magazien the rapper on the front cover is wearing a flat cap, along with a checkered baggy shirt with chains, so looking at this i dressed my model in the similar type of clothing with flat cap, baggy tshirt and jeans to follow and slightly challege the conventions of the genre.
I attracted my audience by haing the rappers name 'YOUNG WAX' in bold and in a different colour, this was done to attract the reader/audiences attention, i did this because once the readers eye got caught with the rappers name in bold and different colour will automatically appeal to the reader and make them read on more. I also attract the audience by having big rap artist names in the industry along the side of the front cover so this would address the reader. Another way i attracted the audience was using informal language, i used informal language because thats what you would expect from a Hip-Hop magazine and also having formal language wouldn't be very interesting and would be off putting and they wouldnt relate to it as good. I think that using informal language was good because it makes the reader feel like that the magazine was specially made for them and that it was targeted for them in a good way, having informal language will also make the readers feel more home like and streetwise as most people listening Hip-Hop music use a lot of slang and informal language.
Using technology has had a lot of influence on my project throughout from the beginning to the end. I have found out a lot about blogger.com and photoshop, also how to work well with camera's etc. Blogger.com is a very efficient way of to publish work so teachers and other people can view my work and comment on it. Its also easy for accessing work and powerpoints or information for my project, it also is easy as it allows you to add to my project where ever i am or whenever. With camera work i used SLR camera's during the project, this helped me understand more about camera work and photography as i dont know much about it. Also my understanding of photoshop has exceeded my expectations of using it because at the start of the project i didnt know much about photoshop and i didnt really know how to use it but over the course of the project using photoshop has developed my skills more and i can use it much more easier then i could before, it also thorughout the project using photoshop had improved my skills of it along with other skills to add to what i understand about other different technologies.
Things i have learnt how to do:
- How to crop and enlarge pictures appropiately to add effect to the magazine
- How to change colours to make my magazine look better
- How to adjust the brightness of pictures
- How to fade the tittle to the back behind the picture causing a better effect
- How to get rid of shadow marks in the back
Looking at my preliminary task (click preliminary task to see visual form) i have progressed so much more then i would have expected. My perliminary task has no real structure and to be fair i didnt really know to much about what i was doing, it was just normal random text on a page because i didnt know any conventions of the genre of the magazine. Also my photoshop skills i had back then were completely shocking compare to how they are now, so all the writing and font sizes were basically the same and it had no real effect to catch the readers attention. Also the picture used isnt good as i didnt have much camera skills to produce a good picture, also the main picture is just to central and has no real affect and is just plain, it needs to be standing out more catching the eyes of the audience. I have now learnt how to use photoshop, what conventions to represent the Hip-Hop genre and also that all fonts need to be same throughout the magazine and that it needs to represent the target audience. I have also gained a better and true understanding of the target audience and what they want from music magazine. I think that my magazine appeals well to the target audeince because it meets all the needs of a good decent Hip-Hop magazine.
