Breerha Alam Media Evaluation 1.

in what ways will your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? Before commencing with my assignment extensive research was carried out. I researched and examined existing music magazines from the same genre in order to get a better understanding of how I should proceed with my own magazine. I analyzed these magazines in order to understand how hip pop/r n b magazines are presented and to get a general feel of the conventions used in terms of text, pictures, fonts etc in order to attract my target audiences. I based my final product on the existing magazine Vibe as the magazine was unique and at first glance attracted me, as an audience instantly. This is what I wanted my magazine to do, to stand out from the shelves and attract instantly. Therefore, following the trend of convention I adopted the layout and style from Vibe Magazine however, instead of fresh and light colours I chose to use a deep royal blue background with vibrant gold for the text. I did this for two reasons: number one I wanted my font to stand out and be seen from across the room and by using the colour combination I chose it allowed me to achieve this. There are numerous ways that my final product use, develops and challenges forms and conventions of real music magazines. One of the conventions I used in my magazine that is important in many magazines is the large, bold masthead at the top of the magazine which attracts the eye of the audience and stands out from the rest of the magazine. To achieve this I downloaded a specific font from Dafont.com which was called Xscale. The font used is san serif; I chose to do this because I wanted to give the magazine a contemporary look as it would attract my target audience.

Dafont.com My Masthead To adapt the font I added many effects on the text such as:

Breerha Alam Media Evaluation Bevel and Emboss Stroke As I was analysing Vibe magazine, I noticed that the masthead for that magazine was very eye catching as it was behind the model, but by challenging that recognisable convention, I didnt follow it. I had a strong belief that by not having my model in front of the text would not affect my magazine a lot, and that my target audience will still be attracted to the magazine as the masthead is bold and big.

A magazine selling line is another convention that was used in my music magazine. I noticed that it was generally used in music magazine, as it is one of the most important selling points of the magazine. As my magazine is Hip Hop and RnB, the selling line was used to attract the fans of that genre of music by saying THE U.Ks BIGGEST MUSIC MAGAZINE EVER! The selling line in my magazine is also short, sharp description of the titles main marketing point just like existing magazines.

To try and follow all the conventions of a magazine, the use of a barcode and a dateline was needed. Unlike Vibe magazine I developed the form and had the dateline placed underneath the masthead for it to be easier for the reader to notice it, as it is under the masthead. But as a convention I followed, I put the price with the barcode in the bottom right hand corner, as that is typically seen in magazines.

Dateline

Barcode

Breerha Alam Media Evaluation Another convention, that is usually used in many magazines, which I used to attract my target audience, is Cover lines. Cover lines are used to give an overview of the main featured stories in the magazine and also catches the attention of the target audience as it should be catchy, short and vibrant. As I followed this convention thoroughly, all my cover lines are vibrant in colour as well as being short and catchy. The fonts used for all my cover lines were the same, as it makes the front cover neat and tidy, however they varied in size- especially my main cover line which covers the bottom part of the magazine. The main cover line, the main image and the selling line all work together to make a selling point of the magazine, so all three have to stand out! One of my cover lines differs to the others, as it is in a circle shape- I done this to show the importance of that cover line as it states FREE POSTERS INCLUDED. My cover lines are arranged out on the front cover like many other real magazines- on the right hand side vertically and some on the left- this is so the focus on the main image would not get distracted.

In my magazine I used a medium long shot, which is a popular convention that I used and developed from an existing magazine Vibe. However the model on the existing magazine is facing towards the audience, but I developed that convention and had my models body slightly on the left, to make it seem like she is looking at something through her body language. I think that the model would attract my target audience as she is standing with attitude, and my target audience is stereotyped to have attitude

Breerha Alam Media Evaluation My contents page used and developed convention from existing magazines. I firstly added many different images to highlight the other stories in the magazine. This is a widely used convention that is used in real magazines, however the music magazine I was researching did not use images and it challenged the widely used convention. To attract my targeted audience I included an image that, in some ways, links to my front cover. However I also used images that contradicted the front cover as the scenery as those pictures are eye catching. Another popular convention used in a real magazine is the vertically arranged columns, which consist of the featured articles in the magazine. I followed this convention thoroughly as it is another widely used convention and also it makes the contents page look neat and structured. I arranged my contents page with three pictures on the left and the columns on the right. Underneath the pictures I placed an editors note- which is another convention I followed. However, yet again, the magazine I was focusing on had no link to my final contents page as it differed a lot.

Similarly, my double page spread uses conventions from existing magazines. The colour of the background is a dark blue, contrasting the front cover. However I used an eye catching yellow for the artists name, as I wanted it to attract the audience to read the interview. I arranged my interview in to two columns with a short paragraph first. A popular convention uses in my double page spread is a quote from the artist. This quote is used to show how the artist is feeling, or what he wants to share. The quote on my double page spread reads THIS IS JUST THE BEGINING.

I also added a drop capital on my double page spread, which is another popular convention used in magazines

Breerha Alam Media Evaluation

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups? My music magazine is aimed at the age group of 16-26, both males and females who are Hip Hop and RnB listeners. I represented this particular social group through the images that I used in the magazine. The model itself on the front cover represents my particular social group in different ways. One way in which the model represents my particular social group is thorough her clothes. The model is wearing a black and blue addidas jacket with a pair of dark blue jeans. Her clothes are casual and normal. Her clothes are also stereotypical of what young teenagers would wear so this leads to it being a representation of my particular social group. Also addidas is a major brand that is well known by my social group, so as my model is wearing an addidas jacket would be another reason why my front cover represents my particular social group. Another way that the image of the model on the front cover represents my particular social group is through the props, such as jewellery and electronics. Hip Hop and RnB genre usually encourage costly accessories and electronics, such as bracelets and headphones, so I thought it would be normal for my model on my front cover to wear costly items- this also represents m particular social groups as they copy the path of popular artists.

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3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product & why?

Going back to the publishing house case study I wrote about during my research and planning stage of my coursework, I think that Conde Nast publications would love the idea to issue and distribute my magazine. There are many specific reasons why Conde Nast will love the idea to issue and distribute my magazine. Firstly, Conde Nast does not issue music magazines, so by issuing my music magazine they will attract a whole new market with a wider target audience, as well as increasing the popularity of their current magazines. However, my music magazines genre is Hip hop and RnB, and Conde Nast do not have any magazines issued with that type of genre which leads to an advantage of my magazine as it would be something NEW for Conde Nast to publish- this will lead to a major advantage for the company as it will be an outburst for them. Another reason for issuing and distributing my magazine is that Conde Nast publications will have a major financial advantage, as they are attracting a whole new audience that none of their other magazines actually target at the moment. And because they dont already issue music magazines in the company, there wont be any competition. My magazine would be targeting a wider audience than any of their current magazine which means that Conde Nast will increase in popularity and be financially benefitted for a long term. Overall because of their increasing profits, through my magazine will make the company well known to more audiences that are not targeted. I possibly would distribute my magazine in retail stores that are well known such as TESCO and WHSMITH, and small corner shops as they are popular with my targeted age group, but not in music stores such as HMV as they are losing customers due to the fact of online downloading and steaming of songs and films. Also it has been predicted that music store like HMV will be closing down soon, so I wouldnt want to take the risk of jeopardising my magazine. However distributing my magazine in WHSMITH and TESCO would let a large number of my targeted audience to be able to access it. Also, Conde Nast sells their other magazines in retail stores such as WHSMITH and TESCO as well.

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4. Who would be the audience for your media product?