2. The Masthead in
hip hop magazines The font in hip
goes along the top hop magazines
of the page in big is quite new
writing to stand out. and hip looking
and stands
out.
There is normally
writing information The clothes the
of other artists in a man is wearing
small column near is normally
the side of the represented in
page. hip hop with the
The name of the baseball cap
main artist on the also looking
front of the quite confident.
magazine stands
out and is
normally
underneath the
head.
Normal in any
magazine is the
barcode.
3. The Masthead goes along
the top in a big funky font
to stand out and fit the
genre. Just like The
Source it goes along from
one side to the other to fit
the whole page.
The style of the
photography is very much
The name of the street, hip hop culture.
Artists is on the The photo is shot from a
body in line with low angle to show
his arm in a big dominance and to make
size and quite a the Artist look bigger. It
graffiti looking also is shot on location on
font to make it fit the street which is
in with the different from some hip
culture and hop magazines which are
genre of the shot in a studio.
magazine.
Barcode in a
The information of bottom corner.
other Artists is on the
left hand side in a
small column.
4. The magazines I looked at mad mastheads at the top of the page in big bold letters
to stand out, it also had a quite new feel to the font and fitted in with the rest of the
page. I used a masthead at the top of the page as well which stands out and uses up
all of the free room above the head of the artist. I used a font which fits in with my
genre and it makes it look like a hip hop magazine. So for the masthead I used forms
and conventions.
In the magazines I looked at they
used extra information and put it
at the side of the page
sometimes there are cover lines
but don’t draw the reader in as
they aren't that big and colourful.
In the magazines I researched the
cover lines they used stood out and
took up a portion of the page. They
also had a little bit of extra
information underneath which would
also stand out. I used
5. The photography that I looked at in
other magazines is either shot on
location or shot in a studio. I shot
mine on location because it made it
look more street. The style of
photography is for a hip hop
magazine. This is why I thought I
would follow the convention as it
would make the magazine fit in with
other magazines in the hip hop genre.
I followed it by making the person in
the photo pose with a confident
stance.
Magazines normally
have a barcode on the
front page. It is normally
in the bottom corner and
I presented this item in
The fonts in Hip hop magazines are very new
the bottom right corner.
looking and are big and easy to read. They are
neat probably for the people who scan pages. This
is why my fonts are big look quite funky but are still
easy to read.
6. The masthead in this contents page is
set out differently in a big font to stand out
in black against the grey background.
Most hip hop magazines contents page
mastheads are all different but have a
new font look and are easy to read.
The style of photography in contents pages
is very much the same all way through a
hip hop magazine. The confident looking
stance in quite trendy looking clothes or
suits.
The writing in contents pages I have
seen and researched have it set out in
neat columns using most of the height
of the page. With sub headings in the
writing.
Set out in one big section
8. In magazines I have researched they presented there contents page Masthead in
many different ways. Lots just have it in a normal layout of a word but some set it
out differently. Like the example I have pictured on the left. They are all set out
differently and in different fonts or styles at different parts of the page or have
different ways to make it stand out. I presented my masthead by using a white font
in front of a black background . I followed the convention as I made my Masthead
standout and used a very different font to most other magazines on the market.
The set out of the contents pages I researched would
normally have a picture and a column of writing
underneath or overlapping the picture. There are also a
couple of cover lines as well. I presented my contents
page in 3 sections. The main picture the masthead and
cover line. Then a black background with another cover
line and photo. Then the final section has a white
background with two columns of writing and two cover
lines. I challenged this convention as to make my
contents page I put everything in that a normal contents
page would have but change the set out with sections
and used lots of cover lines behind yellow shapes to
9. The writing styles
in magazines are
all different but the
set out of the
writing on a
contents page is
normally in one
small column. I The photography in magazines I have
presented my researched has normally been of a music
writing in 2 artists in a studio with some shots on
columns so I could location. Also lots of the photos are shot in
fit more the medium range with medium long shot
information on. I and medium close up. I presented some
developed the of my pictures in the medium range and
normal one some where long shot, I also set my
column writing photos on location on the street. I
style into 3 with progressed the studio shots and put my
two columns for artists on the street shooting on location
10. Other magazine cover lines normally
are just set out in a normal font in
front of a picture or near other writing.
I set out my cover lines in a different
way. I set them out so they would Page numbers are a normal thing to
stand out more in a different way, I insert in a magazine contents page. In
put them in front of black and then magazines I have looked at every one
yellow shapes which where rasterized had page numbers onto show what
in Photoshop so I could rub them out page to go on. I presented the page
to create the shape I wanted. I think numbers in two columns with writing. I
that I challenged the normal also put it in a green font so it would
conventions of a cover line but it stand out but also fit in with the theme
could have been developed as I used colour of my page. I followed the
a font a bigger font to make it stand convention as normal magazines have
out, just the background I changed to them and I didn't change how they
make it look better. where set out.
11. My double page
spread follows
conventions of a
normal hip hop
magazine. This is
because the photo
takes up one page
and has its
masthead lower
down, more like a
cover line. The
photography style
is very much street
and would work for
my audience. The
secondary photo
would bring the
break-dance crowd
The writing style of the photo is in two neat columns into the magazine if
separated with 5 questions a photo and information about they didn't know it
Manickz. This is seen throughout other hip hop magazines. was an all round
hip hop magazine.
12. How does your media product
represent particular social
groups?
13. dominant representation
The dominant representation of teenagers has connotations of;
- being loud
In my media piece I would - un-controllable
suggest most of the audience - trousers very low
would be in their twenties
suggesting that most of them - having mobile phones
will probably be past being
- bad behaviour
mischievous like a teenager
would be. This isn't to say there - mischievous
won't be any teenagers reading
just that the social groups I
have set my magazine to don’t
really act like a stereotypical
teenager being moody and
violent.
14. This is my front cover magazine, it has
lots of conventions on it that would
represent my social group in a certain
way. A hip hop magazines front cover
photo is normally of the artist looking
very confidently at the camera. In mine
he is still looking at the at the camera
but showing how fun the social group
can be. Many people would believe
that a guy stood down a alley would
automatically but in the it shows that
the genre isn't all about gangs and
crews fighting it is about respect and
being nice outside of battles and
events.
If I was to look at this as a real media
text I would feel that the social group
would be male of about social class C1
to D and age around 16 up to 30.
15. The class of my magazine is C1 to D this is working class getting into skilled
workers. The hip hop genre is mainly all working class as it is from black
culture in the Bronx in New York city. The hip hop culture is very much a black
community so I would expect a lot of the readers to be black. The reason my
photography doesn’t have any one black in is that where I live there are few
ethnic minorities. This is why my media product only seems to show the white
social group. some of the cover lines on the top left of the page have black
rappers on and this shows that my audience is still aimed at the black
readers.
16. What kind of media institution
might distribute your media
product and why?
17. magazine institutions
http://www.bauermedia.co.uk/ http://www.ipcmedia.com/
these are two of the key magazine publishers in the uk.
Bauer Media owns more than eighty influential media
brands spanning a wide range of interests. "Bauer Media
reaches over nineteen million UK adults across multiple
media channels". IPC Media produces over 60 media
brands "reaching almost two thirds of UK women and
42% of UK men – almost 26 million UK adults – while our
websites collectively reach over 20 million users every
month" .
18. I would choose the publisher company Bauer as it is one of the leading
companies for media publication. I also think it would benefit from a hip
hop magazine as it hasn’t yet published a hip hop magazine which in turn
could widen its audience bringing in more customers. Bauer own over 30
radio stations and bringing my magazine to this publication company could
help me spread the word of this new magazine quickly and as it is a
successful company I’m sure that my magazine wouldn’t fail.
Bauer owned radio station.
19. Think about how your magazine, as a product, could be
extended into other media areas ?
My magazine product could be extended in many ways. I have
thought that since my product is hip hop based it can’t really have
its own festival as there are no big hip hop festivals, mainly events
and gigs. So maybe I could have a TV website where you
subscribe for a year for a certain price to see videos of every hip
hop gig around including break-dance events and rapping and the
whole hip hop culture in one website. I could also expand the
product onto YouTube creating a whole page of just cut down
versions of the clips you can subscribe to on the website so people
will want to watch more and subscribe to the website. There could
also be a possibility with this production company to have a radio
station as they already have more than 30 successful stations. This
could attract audiences as lots of people use YouTube everyday
and giving a taster of the music and videos sometimes just isn't
enough bringing customers to subscribe.
20. This is from a portfolio of
Bauer media and shows
some demographic
information about this
institutions abc's statistical
data about its audience
figures taken over a 6 month
period.
As you can see on the chart
the women's sector takes up
most of the number data
accumulated. But the real
challenge would be empire
magazine which isn't a music
magazine but is a big
entertainment magazine
which has over 170,000
readers or subscribers.
There are only three music
magazines which aren’t hip
hop magazines. This could
be seen as a good thing but
also has a negative side as it
would have to take on all the
other magazines as a single
genre.
21. Being the only hip hop music magazine genre in a big publishing institution might
have some disadvantages especially if the audience like the other three music
magazines more. They get around 40 – 90,000 readers where my estimate for the
first 6 months was 30,000. Saying these magazine companies have been around
for a while I will have to work my way up and get known which is why I would have
to have a advertising campaign which would involve TV commercials and
information in newspapers, leaflets at hip hop events and stalls selling other
merchandise to get the magazine known. This is why having Bauer as my media
distributor would be helpful as they already have very good music magazines which
have radio stations and other extras to go with the magazine. This extra backing
from Bauer could boost the magazines ratings and advance my audience to a more
larger sum bringing the statistical data views up.
22. Who would be the audience for
your media product?
23. For the final product of my magazine the audience is the same as it is on my pitch. The
audience for my final product should aim at males16 to 30 years of age of a hip hop
background. The hip hop genre is based on black culture in America that is why most
rappers black. But as I live in York which is pretty much a white ethnic background city.
Therefore I think that it should be an all round ethnic magazine.
The social classification of the magazine should be C1 to D. The reason for this is the
hip hop genre is a very much working class society. The clothing in the my finished
product is what my audience should wear; Dickies workpants 874, baseball cap,
hooded jumpers, windbreakers, beanie hats, Puma Suede, Adidas Stan smiths etc.
24. The audience for the finished
piece is still the same as it used
to be from the planning stages Mostly male
through to this moment, as my
media piece fits in with the genre
and the hip hop genre is very
specific.
Interested in hip hop genre
Social class C1 to D
Working class 16 to 30 year olds.
Mostly black ethnicity but as I live in
York it would mostly be white
26. Through research of other hip hop magazines that are aimed at the same target
audience that I am aiming for, I designed my front page so my audience will want
to pick it up and take it around with them. I don’t want it to be a magazine you hide
as you don’t want people to know you read it. I want people to be able to read it
more than once to get all the information from it. this is why the mast head was big
and went all across the page.
The image on the front is of the artist featured on the double page spread standing
in a alley way which fits my genre. The reason for this is because it looks like the
entrance alley way down Brixton academy which is where the UK world Bboy
Championships is held which is the biggest and most influential hip hop event in
the UK. this for most hip hop fans would make the photo stand out to them as it I
believe it is a very street looking photo.
27. This cover line is very big
and should stand out to the
audience. At first they will
see the writing saying
album exclusive as it is in a
red font. They should then
see the bigger writing
saying Manickz. The fonts
only let capital letters so it
stands out even more I
thought this was a good
effect.
The photography in my magazine should have
something in common with the reader. This photo
is kind of formal but has a relaxed feeling to it but
the artist still has lots of confidence and wears
street stereotypical clothes. This speaks to the
audience as they will own baseball caps and
hooded jumpers and hip hop, break-dance clothes.
28. Informal language
Breakers, Rappers, Lockers,
Poppers, freestyle, battle, rep
and Manickz.
In the double page spread I have
used some slang words and words
to do with hip hop. This should for
my audience make them
understand the writing on the
double page spread more and
attract them to read it.
29. What have you learnt about technologies from the
process of constructing this product?
30. In my media project I used a lot of
technology software.
I used Microsoft Word
I used Microsoft Power Point
I used Photoshop CS3 and 6
I used Slide share
I used Blogger
I used Survey Monkey
I used a internet browser (Internet Explorer)
I used Google Images
I used Blackboard
31. I used Photo Shop shortly in
I used Slideshare in Research, I used Blogger In Research, the planning but mostly in
Planning, Production and for my Planning, Production and for the production of my
evaluation as a online work book
evaluation. This was a very magazine . I used it for
to keep all my work on instead of making my Front page,
helpful piece of software as made using paper and files. This was
it quicker and easier to upload Contents page and Double
the first time I had ever used a page spread. I hadn't used
PowerPoint presentations in a blog so at first wasn't too sure the software before but I
neat and easy way. I had never what to do but after a while I quickly got the hand of it
used the software before but it learned a lot of things like from help from peers and
taught me to upload uploading Photos and links to tutors. The using of rulers
the blog and how to edit them.
PowerPoint's onto my blog and for alignment and using lots
This was helpful when uploading of different colours to
how to copy very long links using Slidshare presentations as other
the control button and A which I separate parts in the
wise I would have had to upload different pages made it look
had never done before. the pages one by one. more professional.
32. In my media project I used a lot of technology
hardware.
I used a Canon 60 D camera
I used a Flashgun
I used a HTC Camera Phone
I used a Computer
I used an iPad 2
I used a Usb stick
I used a phone memory card to
store data.
33. I use the memory disk The flashgun was harder to I used a Canon 60 D camera in
everyday on my phone but use than the camera as you taking some of my photos. I
without knowing as had to put it on the right borrowed this from a friend
everything these days are
setting to work. I learnt how but I had used it before as we
automatic. I put my Usb lead
into my computer and had to to set up the refractor and take photos quite a lot. I
access files and put files into choose the right setting and learned how to choose the
the right place so I could save how many bursts to use. right settings and change the
things onto it successfully Every time I took a photo it iso and aperture to make sure
which is harder than it looks took the flashes twice to keep the photos weren't too
as there are automatic files the light on. bright.
which have some photos in
but I had to find more files
on it so I created a my
documents on my phone
34. Technology
Could you have completed your project without using any technology?
I think doing the project without using any technology could be possible but you would
have to have a camera or a painting as you don't want a magazine without pictures
as it would be all writing. The rest should all be possible, for instance when you are
researching you can look at existing magazines and products for ideas. You would
then have to cut out the bits that you wanted onto a scrapbook and write about it on
paper. If you had to change anything you would have to rip out the other page and
change what you need. You couldn't do the project without a camera as you need to
put images onto the piece. I think Photoshop was quite essential to change some
settings on the photos to bring the sharpness and colour out more. It also helped in
the layout of the piece using rulers. If you where to do the front cover by drawing it
would look very un-neat and unprofessional. You would also have to rub the lines you
made to make sure everything you draw on was inline and it wouldn’t look good or
like a finished piece, it would look like a rough draft especially if I drew it. I could have
also done my questionnaires by hand and worked out the analysis and put it into
tables by using maths and percentages. It would take more time but the that is a part
that could also be done without technology.
35. What pieces of technology could you have done without?
I could have done without using a flashgun on my camera. It was for extra light when I
was in a darker place. Instead of using the flash gun I could use the flash on the
camera, it’s not as bright but I didn’t really need it.
I also wouldn’t have needed to use my HTC camera phone but I used it when I didn't
have my Canon 60 D. The photos from the phone weren't the best as there isn't much
shake resistance and lots of the photos I took where blurred. This is why I could do
without the phone as it wasn’t the best way to get good quality photos.
Another thing I could have done without was a memory stick. I used the memory card in
my phone for most of the things I needed to save. At the start of the project I used a
memory stick but then I lost it. I always had my phone on me so I used the data
connection cable to connect to the computer via usb.
36. Which piece of technology couldn’t you do without?
It doesn’t sound like it should be an important piece of technology hardware to use in this project but it
was very helpful for me. My iPad 2 helped me write more correctly as some of the buttons on my
computer don’t work so I don't have any shift, caps lock button, letter a and number 1. This made it
harder to write things as I had to copy and paste everything I needed so I would copy a letter a and go
through putting a’s in by using ctrl v. This was time wasting so I used my iPad and wrote everything on
that then I could upload things straight to blogger.
A camera is a very important piece of equipment that was needed to complete the work properly. I
Couldn't have done without the Canon 60 D I used it helped make some of the photos look more
professional as it stopped the shake and blur of the picture and the overall picture quality and colour
was better.
37. What were the positives of using technology?
Some positives of using technology was when you finally worked out how to work a
complicated piece of software or hardware. For example the camera I used had lots
of settings on the camera and also on the lens as I used Manual focus not Autofocus.
I was very pleased when I could work the camera without the assistance of my friend
who knew a lot about cameras.
Another positive of using technology was getting the hands of using Photoshop Cs3. At
first I thought the software was going to be hopeless for me as I didn't understand
anything on it or how to change different layers around. A class mate helped me
understand the software more as she used the product quite a lot and for me was my
first time. The most positive part of using Photoshop was putting together my
contents page which is my favourite page as it looks very good. It was also a positive
when I finished doing my pages and had all three finished pages on screen that was
a positive of using Photoshop.
What were the negatives of using technology?
A negative of using technology was using hardware and software that I had never used before. It was
a struggle to get to grips with some of the software like Photoshop and also blogger. This made it
quite hard to start the production of the work as it took me a while to get a deeper understanding
of the software. a bad experience I had during the production of the piece was when the camera
I was using went a bit weird and the flash didn’t work and some of the settings didn’t work
properly. Then I realised that some of the settings where not right and I fixed the problem. This
still took quite a long time to fix and wasted an hour out of my photography schedule. Another
annoying part of using older technology was using slow computers with limited disk space, if I
didn’t have a memory card with me I couldn’t save anything and if I saved from Photoshop it
would take a while.
38. Looking back at your preliminary task,
what do you feel you have learnt in the
progression from it to the full product?
I feel that I have gained a better understanding of my audience and progressed this from the
preliminary task. A magazine has a set genre and the conventions of a magazine need to be
set for that genre. Putting your audience in mind could make your magazine look like the
genre you want it to be especially if you put sub genres in and make it look like you think it
would on other magazines.
Some of the conventions I used in my preliminary task where developed in my magazine as I
had planning and research and also a audience to fit my pages to. The photos had to be
represented in a different way from other magazines. For my preliminary task we had very
little planning for the photos that we took. That was why the photography isn't very good. This
is where I think I progressed very well. The photography that I used in my final product is
much more clearer and had much more planning. I also followed a stimulus which helped me
progress the photo into looking more professional. I didn’t do anything dramatical with the
editing in the preliminary except for cropping the photo. I progressed and learnt how to
change the sharpness and RGB colour of the photo in layers. I also learnt how to put affects
onto the photos.
39. The experience has taught me to use any extra time in trying to finish work and
making it better as you cant leave it to the last minute as there is vast amounts of
work. Another good thing to do is ask the teacher for help as they won’t know
your stuck or confused if you just sit there. I never used to ask for extra help
outside of lessons and agree to doing it but now I am in a level the step up of
work and the load of it is much harder than GCSE so any help was appreciated
and it taught me that you shouldn’t be scared to ask questions and also listen to
teacher advise and criticism as it is for the best. It also taught me that
timekeeping and organisation is essential for getting work done on time.
Some skills I learnt during the production stage;
- how to use Photoshop.
- how to use a Digital - SLR camera.
- how to make a blog.
- how to read my target audience.
- Using these skills for weeks developed my skills and these skills are shown
throughout my newspaper article. These are the skills I feel I got better at during
the production of my media piece.
40. This is the preliminary work I did. The front cover was done without the use of
much planning and I had very little skills. The contents page is just a rough draft
much more like a flat plan than an actual page. It sets out the details of the
contents in very little detail. The background for both of the pages are basically
the same that is the only thing that could tell you it was that front covers contents
page.
41. This is my final product and compared with the preliminary task it looks so much better. You
can tell that there was planning a lot of thought time and skill went into it. Making the final
product was nothing like the preliminary task as the final product was done for a specific
audience and social class, meaning the Mise – n – scene and conventions of a
magazine had to be done in a specific way.
