1. Question1:
Masthead
I added conventions such as, Masthead, Locations, Content, Cover lines, Slogan, (an eye catching
phrase relating to the main image) etc. The name for my magazine is “TUNE” I decided to use this
name because it’s unique and original, also tune is a key term within the music industry therefore,
and my type of magazine would link to the masthead. Moreover, the word "TUNE" is slag for song or
music; because my magazine is aimed at teenagers to young adults I think this is an appropriate
name for my magazine.
The font for my masthead is big, bold and outstanding. This appeals to my target audience because it
makes the magazine look eye-catching. Whilst, researching Hip-hop genre magazines such as, “XXL”
and “Vibe”, I realised the amount of colours used for the colour scheme was maximum four.
Therefore, I decided to used red, black and white to produce my magazine because red was a
popular colour used in this specific genre magazine and I thought the colours black and white would
work really well and so did my peers. But, for the Masthead I only used red and black. I wanted my
masthead to look really strong and bold. I put the colour of the font black because black is a strong
colour that can be seen from a far distance. In this case, my target audience wouldn’t struggle to
read the word also, black represents elegance or class which is one of the effects I would like my
magazine to have on the audience which links to the reason why my model is wearing a fur coat. I
put a red outline around the black because, I think these are the only two strong colours that can be
placed together and have the strongest effect. Also, it helps the masthead look bold and it connotes
excitement and passion, the excitement links to the new upcoming artist ‘Eron Mibo’ for the
audience to read more about. Moreover, the red relates to the lipstick being worn by the upcoming
artist, I tried to get the red the same shade because it made the magazine look professional and
more attractive visually. I place the masthead in capital letters at the top of the cover, in front the
top of the upcoming artists head. This is because the artist isn’t more important than the magazine
as well as my target audience would be able to see the magazine clearly. The title is placed in the top
left corner and not in the centre so that when it is on the shelf the audience would be able to see it.
Images
I took a head and shoulder’s shot of my upcoming female artist. I took many photographs but, I
decided to choose the head and shoulders photograph to use as my main image for the front cover
because, you would be able to see the artists face expression and a part of the outfit (costume). One
of the conventions of real media products, were the artists always had eye contact with the camera
for the front cover (main image). I think the head and shoulders image showed the upcoming artists
eyes in direct focus with the camera. I had a black back drop behind the artist because the artist
because the flash and the black background gave my photographs an effective look which enhanced
the classy look my artist showed with the fur coat which suggests wealth. I didn’t place anymore
images on the front cover because I didn’t want it to take away the attention from the upcoming
artist. I used different shot angles for the double page spread, long shots, mid shots etc. I also used
different location photographs representing the fashion eyewear or other upcoming artists.
2. Different models
I decided to use the contents page to show a range of different models representing upcoming
artists. This is because the conventions of Hip-Hop magazines, they normally show different range of
people in the contents page therefore, I try to show this in my magazine. My photographs are of
people with different ethnicities which show that my magazine is welcoming to everyone from
different cultures. Also, by me making the upcoming artist a female I wanted to show the female
dominance because females are normally showed as an object so I wanted to portray the idea that
females can be hard working in the music industry like males. I think this would attract more female
readers because in my magazine the females are doing more than just being house wife’s which is
what I wanted to show and is a part of my USP.
Content
My written content for my double page spread is a question and answer article interviewing the
upcoming artist on her life from the start working in the music industry to now. I tried to make my
double page spread look professional by using a pull quote which relates to the article, I used
InDesign to create both pages. InDesign allowed me to put my context into columns which is a
professional convention used in many magazines, with font size being 11 this is another
conventional feature being used in all types of magazines. I made my article look unique because I
decided to have more than one photo of the upcoming artists for the double page spread this made
it look visually interesting which would make the audience willing to read the context. I also added
ways for the audience to contact the artists by putting a Twitter address and many more.
Genre
I chose my magazine to have the musical genre hip hop. In my research, I discovered that hip hop is
a popular genre within the music industry for my target audience, because it involves many known
artists and it contains vocal singing and rap. So my magazine would meet a wide range of target
markets needs. This is why I chose the name to be “TUNE” because it is easy to remember and it
sounds like something of someone with a young age would say.
Question2:
3. I believe that my magazine represents similar social groups to magazines such as “XXL” and “THE
SOURCE” magazine because the content and the target audience are similar. I used the front cover
of Rick Ross a hip-hop rapper to show my example of using the conventions I used this image to help
with my main image but I purposely used a female because in music magazines they use males more
than females to show wealth.
I made my image was different because I told my model to stand in a different potions and I used
less in the picture to distract from the fur coat. My model is looking mildly happy but serious also.
This shows a difference because it shows that the first magazine has an established sense in which
the audience have a connection with the people in the magazine already. Image connotes that
females can be just as classy and hard working as males within the music industry.
The shot type of the main image is different because they were more focussing on the face where as
was focusing on the face and some of the body.
The lighting is very similar in both of these photos because they are both located in a dark plain
background but, my image seems to have more of a darker and effective background because of the
two colour tone happening in the background. The gloss of light (flash) on the models face and
costume, this suggests that the photo is intended to attract the audience because of the focus on
the face and outfit. However the other photo doesn't have a focus on lighting in particular place and
there facial expression is more serious.
The costumes in the two images are similar. You can see that both of the people are wearing fur
coats, this really reaches out to the target audience and shows social representation at its best. But
the man on the right is wearing glasses and has on jewellery which makes him seem richer but he is
because he has been in the music industry for a long time where as my model is an upcoming artist.
The expression of the people in the photos, it is clear that the picture on the left has a more calm
expression. This allows the audience to relax a little bit in the sense that people can see the
characters in the photographs can be down to earth too. As for the picture on the left the expression
looks very serious which makes it scarier than mine.
Question3:
The media institution that might distribute my music magazine is through shops and the internet.
My magazine is aimed at teenagers – young adults (16-25). This means that they would buy a
magazine that is selling at a reasonable price in the shops or online, I think my magazine would be
distributed in shops such as, WHSmith, HMV etc. I am trying to make my magazine reach out to a
wide range of audience therefore it would be really pleasing and convenient for it to be online as
well. My target audience is the new generation therefore, they would be using the internet or they
do use the internet a lot and that where I think most of my customers would come from so I would
like it to be available. My magazine would be issued monthly because it gives it time for the
audiences in the lower class to save up to buy my magazine as well. I would like the company IPC to
distribute my magazine because they are one of the world’s biggest publishers and they have many
connections which would help me gain more people as an audience.
4. Question4:
The audience for my music magazine is working class 16-25 year old males and female. I believe it is
suitable for the kind of magazine that I am promoting because I made sure my magazine is
affordable and exciting for this age group, I made my magazine for both males and females because
I don’t want anyone to feel left out. But I am trying to make females be more noticed within the
music industry as a hard working gender like common example of Beyonce. For the genre of the
magazine I am doing (Hip-Hop) this is their primary audience and I wanted to keep this as one of my
conventions to target audience due to the research I have done before starting the magazine. My
target audience is someone that has a real appreciation of music or even a great sense of fashion
because I would be including sneak peeks of that within the magazine.
Question5:
Just post magazine.
Question6:
I have learnt how to use different types of equipment and computer technologies.
During the photo shoot I used:
Sony DSLR camera to take my photos, whilst playing with settings I learnt how to use the manual focus
effectively this allowed me to take more interesting pictures.
Black/white backdrops this allowed me to have a clear background which enhanced the quality oif the
picture and made it more effective.
The light boxes which helped the flash of the camera I was using
Laptop/Computer, I used these to operate the programmes: Photoshop and InDesign. I used photoshop
for the front cover but i used InDesign for the contents page and double page spread. I learnt how to
use the tools on the programmes
Prezi is an online zooming presentation Creator
5. Slide share allows you to upload PowerPoint presentations to the
Internet
Blogger has allowed me to present my work online
Question7:
I feel I have learnt from looking back at my preliminary task in the progression from it to the full
product that to make a magazine is very hard work and includes a lot of steps and i only did a front
cover, contents page and a double spread.