looking back at the preliminary task what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to a full product?

Since doing my preliminary task I have learnt many skills that have helped me progress to the full product. One of the main things I have learnt that has improved the quality of my magazine is learning the conventions of a magazine and how to present them on the page.

Also one of the main tools I learnt how to use to progress my magazine to the full product of my music magazine was the use of Photoshop. Photoshop was something I used from a young age but I stopped using it for a long time and I lost my skills so when I started using it again for the first time in a long time I felt like an amateur. This helped to improve the quality of my magazine as it made it look more professional.

My task was only supposed to consist of a front cover, contents and a double page spread, I was able to learn how to work on an A3 canvas and use the space accordingly.

Through my progression from my preliminary task to the full product I learnt how to fully attract my target audience and include them in my product. I also learnt how to focus my magazine on a particular social group; my music magazine had a specific audience so I was able to make my magazine more focused and more suited to that target group. I had to research my target audience and put in a lot of thought into how I was going to present them in my magazine.

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

For the process of constructing my magazine I learnt many things about technology that aided me in constructing my magazine. Firstly I learnt how to use a canon E0S 400D camera to take all my images. All my pictures were taken in many different locations. In order to create my desired effect and good quality pictures I had to be aware of time and how bright or dark my location would be. As I was using a high quality camera to take all my images, I could use the flash to enhance the quality of the photo. The main problems which I faced whilst using the camera was keeping it in focus and steady whilst using it, I didn’t have a tripod to help keep the camera steady so it was quite difficult to keep the camera steady but I still managed it in the end, after a while I got used to the camera.

Another technology I found I had learnt a lot from was using Adobe Photoshop as my skills on photoshop was very limited before the process of constructing my magazine.

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 it’s a JPEG file. I used photoshop to convert all my images to JPEG.

Whilst constructing my magazine I also learnt how to install a font into photoshop so I could use it; this was something new to me that I never knew how to do.

Similarly, in Photoshop, I learnt how to use tools like the stroke tool, which helped in making particular text stand out for example my cover lines and masthead. Although it was easy to use, it was difficult to find the correct size of the stroke as if it was too big or small it would ruin the professional look of the magazine.

How did you attract/address your audience?

I feel that I attracted my target audience in many numerous ways. Firstly, one of the ways in which I attracted my target audience was through my front cover which is a very significant part of the magazine as it determines whether my target audience decides to pick up my magazine. I felt that the models on the front cover of my magazine attracted my target audience because they are about the same age range as each other so my audiences can associate and relate themselves with the models. The models are wearing casual clothes that represent a particular style associated with hip hop and rap. Furthermore one of my models is wearing a gold chain which most rappers tend to wear in their music videos.

Another way that I attracted my target audience is by keeping focus on the hip hop/rap music scene as this is what my target audience wanted; I did this through my cover lines and issues discussed throughout the magazine. I used well known modern day hip hop artists to attract my audience and issues that I felt would appeal to my target audience; one of my cover lines had famous rap artists like Wiz khalifa and lil Wayne and this would attract my target audience because both of those artists are making a good breakthrough in the music scene today.

Throughout my magazine I used many non-serif fonts to give my magazine a simple and legible look, which I feel works very well with the genre of music I decided to base my magazine on so this would attract my target audience. In particular, I used a non-serif fonts that I downloaded from dafont.com for my masthead and cover lines to create a strong and recognizable trademark look so that my target audience will be attracted to its uniqueness.

On my contents page I attracted my target audience by keeping it neat, tidy and organized thereby allowing them to read on because it is easy on the eyes, everything is set out clearly so my audience doesn’t feel like they need to look all over the page for something they want to find at once.

who would be the audience for your media project?

As stated in my audience research RIDDIM is targeting a young aged 14-25 year old male and female audience of all ethnicities. This is because hip hop and rap is global and is listened to all over the world.

I decided to target a younger audience because the artists featured and the content in the magazine is more likely to appeal to them rather than any older age group. The younger generation is more familiar with the latest new songs and artists rather than an older audience. The magazine could also appeal to an older audience because it contains news on some celebrities and rappers from the UK as well as the US.

In terms of ethnicity although hip hop and rap are mainly associated with black people, RIDDIM target all races equally and targets both genders. This is to make the magazine more accessible and this will make the magazine get more money because it is getting money from both genders and different races. The target audience has a deeper passion for music that goes beyond listening to their favorite rappers and artists on phones and MP3.

what kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Time inc would have published my magazine because they are the same publishing company that published the magazine called vibe, and vibe has the same genre of music and the same target audience that I am using for my magazine. Vibe focuses mainly on rap and some R’N’B music.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My music magazine is aimed at a teenage audience; both male and female who are rap and hip-hop and even R’N’B listeners. I showed this particular social group through the images used in my music magazine. Firstly, the models on the front cover of my magazine represent particular social groups in many different ways.

One of the ways in which this is done is through the clothes that they are wearing; one of them is wearing a plain light green t-shirt with a gold chain and the other is wearing a white designer t-shirt. This look suggests masculinity which is stereotypically associated with other Hip hop and rap artists such as 50 cent and Eminem. The type of clothes they wear are the type of clothes that other rap artists would wear, especially the gold chain and designer t-shirts. These clothes are also the type of clothes that fans may imitate and probably even wear to their favorite rap artist’s concerts and shows so I felt this represented that social group very well.

The jewellery that is seen on one of the models is not just any type of chain that you may find in any market it is real gold and that is the type of jewellery that rap and hip hop artists wear; they do not wear fake jewellery because they like to show that they have money so they wear real flossy and shiny jewelry. The pose that you see at the front cover of my magazine that the models are doing is cool sort of hip hops pose that a lot hip hop artists use in photos. Both models are looking straight into the camera with a slight smile on each of their faces although most hip hop artists may have a serious not caring attitude look to the camera these models seem different because they are younger models.

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

At the beginning of the project I explored existing magazines to see how magazines presented or used the conventions like the masthead for example to attract their chosen target audience. There are a lot of ways my product uses challenges and develops forms and conventions of real magazines. In my hip-hop music magazine I used these conventions to follow real magazines and make my product look more professional and real. One of the conventions which I used in my magazine that is important in most magazines is the large masthead at the top of the magazine, as I wanted to follow real magazines, and make my masthead stand out from the rest of the front page of the magazine; I downloaded a particular font that I liked from a website called dafont.com to do this. By doing this my magazine will be able to attract my target audience as it is very dominating and will stand out on the magazine stands in the shops. I particularly chose a bandana font to adapt the text to familiarize it to the target audience. The font used in the mast head is a non-serif font as it is targeted at a younger audience rather than adults. Another recognizable convention I used is placing the masthead behind the model; I chose to do this because it makes the magazine look more interesting and more professional.

The selling line of a magazine is another convention that was used in my music magazine. It is used by many music magazines as it is one of the magazines main selling points and briefly explains what the focus of the magazine is. Also the selling line acts as a way of promoting the magazine. As my magazine is a hip hop magazine my selling line was another way to communicate to my audience what the principal focus for my magazine is and helps to grab the attention of my target audience. One of my main selling lines was of various artists however another selling line was ‘Celebrity gossip’.

In order to follow conventions of a magazine I used a barcode, although in most magazines there is also a dateline featured usually beneath the masthead or on top of the barcode, I decided to make the dateline part of my masthead as it would look better and would stand out more.

In order to fully attract my audience I had to use various cover lines. Cover lines are another convention generally used in magazines as they give an insight into what will be featured in the magazine and attract my target audiences as they are short and snappy, colorful and eye-catching. I used different fonts for different cover lines on my front cover.

Contrastingly, a common convention of music magazines is to use a medium close up as the main image, in my magazine I used a medium long shot because it makes the image seem more in your face and creates an image of being in close proximity of the model or models. Also, the way in which the model is standing grabs the attention of the audience in which I feel suit my target audience.

My contents page also developed and followed conventions used in real magazines. I included other images, which are used as a convention in a lot of other magazines, this is used to illustrate what other topics will be discussed inside the magazine and also it could determine whether the reader continues reading or not. In order to attract my target audience I included pictures that correlate to the front cover to show a sense of continuity.

Similarly my double page spread uses and develops conventions. I did not use the same type of background as my front cover and contents page so that it creates a modern and professional look. I arranged my paragraphs into columns like a proper news paper article with a headline and the name of the article.