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AS Media Studies Log book

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OCR Media Studies – AS Level Unit G321: Foundation Portfolio in Media Name: Lance Candidate Number: 6616 Center Name: St. Paul’s Catholic College Center Number: 64770 Music Magazine – Production Preliminary Task Progression and Log Book
Transcript
Page 1: AS Media Studies Log book

OCR Media Studies – AS Level

Unit G321: Foundation Portfolio in Media

Name: LanceCandidate Number: 6616Center Name: St. Paul’s Catholic CollegeCenter Number: 64770

Music Magazine – Production

Preliminary Task Progression and Log Book

Page 2: AS Media Studies Log book

Preliminary Task Progression – Front Cover

Page 3: AS Media Studies Log book

To begin with I used a blank front cover template, and I thought it would be a good idea to use the schools colours as my colour scheme, which are maroon and blue. I then decided to make the background maroon because it’s a bright vibrant colour and it stands out as you can see.

The next step, was to create a unique masthead for my school magazine and my target audience were secondary school students jumping the barrier from year 11 into year 12. So an appropriate masthead would be the breakthrough, I made the font look like a typical college poster and the font colourblue because that’s one of our school colours.

Page 4: AS Media Studies Log book

I started to put the codes and conventions that are found in a magazine, such as the barcode, web-address, price, date, issue and magazine logo. This brought the magazine to life and madeit look like a real magazine. I made the colour of the font whitebecause if a student was going to buy the magazine the first

they would for is the price, so I wanted to make it stand out and white was the right colour for me to use.

When taking the image for the front cover, I thought long and hard because to make a good magazine page the quality and meaning of the image plays a big role. The image you see above connotes the meaning of the masthead, the student is breaking through the barrier from year 11 and year 12. Then I added a headline which also tied into the main image. The student is holding book which will determine his future, depending upon how much he learns.

Page 5: AS Media Studies Log book

As you can see now, after I added more codes and conventions, it began to look more like a magazine. I put cover lines that related to the purpose of the magazine and this was the original finished product, however I made some adjust after some feedback.

When I thought that I finished my front cover, I asked on of my peers for any improvements and they said that they struggled to read the cover lines on the page. I then thought I needed to make the font clearer, so I searched for a more rich font, that would still look appropriate and this was my final product.

Page 6: AS Media Studies Log book

Preliminary Task Progression – Contents Page

Page 7: AS Media Studies Log book

I started with a blank canvas just like the front cover and it was easier to construct the contents page because all I had to do was copy and past conventions from my front cover that build the foundation for magazine page.

To be consistent I made sure a reader would recognise The magazines identity, so I copied and pasted the Masthead

Page 8: AS Media Studies Log book

I carried on adding conventions to the page and tried make it look more like a contents page.

I placed school related stories that I thought students would be interested in if they were to read the magazine

Page 9: AS Media Studies Log book

I took a pic that I thought related to one of the cover lines, Just tot make the magazine stand out. The magazine, Facebook logo and web address were copied from front cover Which saved time for to work on other conventions.

I started with a blank canvas just like the front cover and it was easier to construct the contents page because all I had to do was copy and past conventions from my front cover that build the foundation for magazine page.

Page 10: AS Media Studies Log book

These are the most of different types of styles involved with this genre:BounceEast Coast RapGangsta RapHardcore RapHip-Hop Latin RapOld School RapRapUnderground RapWest Coast Rap

Genre Research

Genre Research

Hip Hop, R&B and Rap are musical genres closely associated with each other. Hip hop music takes its roots from Jamaican reggae and dancehall music that was quite popular in the late 1960s. It was mainly originated in Jamaica and was later spread to America and much later all over the world.

Some of the well known artists who made it famous in this genre: Grandmaster Flash, LL Cool J, A Tribe Called Quest, Run DMC, Tupac Shakur, Notorious B.I.G., Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre.

This genre of music has been growing for decades and continues to grow, as years pass by new artists come with a unique style that inspires all the other artists and the process carries on.

There are many different ways to access the latest music and gossip, magazines are not the only way anymore. People prefer to find their information electronically, using technology such as phones and computers etc..

Page 11: AS Media Studies Log book

Source magazine – Genre research

The source magazine is based around the hip-hop music genre in America, other topics like politics and culture are included in the magazine to widen the magazines target audience. Two Harvard students in America founded Source magazine in 1988; they were musically driven so they felt the need to promote their love for music by praising the hip-hop genre. The magazine is not just known for publishing music every mouth, they have put their stamp in the industry as they are the worlds second largest rap periodical.

Page 12: AS Media Studies Log book

Why The Source Magazine?

The reason why I chose Source magazine as my starting point, is because they are a well known magazine and have been around for a long period of time, I’ve been researching about them, and deconstructing a few of their magazines, to understand how to produce my own rap magazine, that can compete with the established magazines.

Source magazine is also very diverse, they don’t just focus on music. They also inform and entertain their readers, through the latest fashion, news and politics. Therefore analysing their magazine front covers will give me an insight on constructing, a well structured magazine page, which will keep readers interested.

Page 13: AS Media Studies Log book

Masthead –• Bold• Attractive • UniqueThe red background behind the masthead is attractive, itattracts the audiences attention when they first see it. It’s unique because it suggests what the magazineaims to do, which is to be a ‘Source’ of entertainment to its readers. The masthead also has a telescope, to re-enforce the fact that the magazine is a source, which represents some ‘difference’ because established magazines aren’t known to do this.

Main Image –The main image is very exclusive,the artist on cover is making his first entrance into the music Industry, and fans want to know more about him, so The Source magazine put him on the cover to keep the readers Attentive, using ‘star appeal’ (Richard Dyer). It’s a very exotic picture, as Meek Mill (artist)salutes to his success.

Convergence –Gives the reader a variation of ways to access the magazine and interact.

Headline –The headline is huge and recognisable, so the reader can tell what exactly is going to be featured in the magazine. It’s also next to the artist that related to the headline. which acts as a ‘signifier’ (Ferdinand De Saussure).

Story Separation –This divides the stories that are in the magazine, which is what well established magazines do, for example XXL.

Price £3.95

Barcode

Established Magazine for my Research

Page 14: AS Media Studies Log book

The target audience for The Source magazine can be denoted as 15 to 29 year years olds, in middle class (Hartley) because of the fact the magazine is £3.95 (in pounds), a reader of an lower class might not be willing pay that much for a magazine. The reason why 15 to 25 year olds would appeal to this magazine is, because they’re still young and looking for ways to fit into society by gaining confidence through knowing the latest music, they would conform to being an audience with ‘esteem’ (Maslow) because they need reassurance in knowing that they are constantly up to date the latest music and albums, it offers a sense of security.

From the research completed into this media product, I think that one of the magazines USP’s is the the annual man/woman of the year award and rookie of the year award that the magazine hosts. If a artist has been creating a buzz throughout the year, they end up on the cover of The Source Magazines front cover and the newest artist on demand also gets on the cover. This is very unique because no other magazine does this and the ‘star appeal’ (Richard Dyer), keeps the magazines readers loyal as they will stay tuned all year long to find out if their favourite artist has got an award.

Magazine USP/Target Audience

Page 15: AS Media Studies Log book

Publisher research

http://magazines.bauermediaadvertising.com/magazines/detail/Q

http://www.bauermedia.co.uk/brands/q

L.Londell McMillian is the publisher for The Source magazine. He graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School in 1983 and received his undergraduate degree from Cornell University, where he was a Quill and Dagger member, honors graduate, and Academic All-American mentioned football player. McMillan was a faculty member with the Practicing Law Institute; lecturer and featured case study subject of the Harvard Business School. He also has been a guest and commentator on the The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Page 16: AS Media Studies Log book

I looked at other magazine genres

before I decided on the

genre that I wanted to do.

I analysed four other genres, to make sure I made the right decision.

Page 17: AS Media Studies Log book

Genre: Rock magazineSimilarly to The Source Magazine, the main image is very exotic and relates to the genre of music. This is a ‘signifier’ (Ferdinand De Saussure) that genre is very raw, and denotes dark emotions.

Barcode

Cover lines

Puff promotion. The magazines readers have a chance of winning a PlayStation 3

Headline is positioned to the left of the magazine, which what most successful magazines do.

Price - £2.99

There is a lot of information on rock front covers, they give their readers plenty of Information.

Page 18: AS Media Studies Log book

Genre: RnB magazine

A neat coordinated magazine, not too much information. It’s simple but effective

Headline – this time it’s in the centre of the magazine, draws the reader attention because its yellow and bold

The masthead is white and stands out. It’s also unique because it has bright colours inside the letters. This is not a coincidence because red, blue and yellow are the colours that people appeal to the most.

Main image is massive and covers most of the cover

Page 19: AS Media Studies Log book

Genre: Pop magazine

Just like Source Magazine, this magazine has a icon in it’s masthead, this good for brand awareness.

All the magazines that I have analysed seem to use ‘star appeal’. This is the norm within music magazines, and specifically in this one it is Rihanna. Who is considered the queen of pop.

The magazine just doesn't have music on the front cover, it also has fashion tips for women, on what to wear this spring.

It’s target audience are mainly females because there are plenty of attractive woman on the front cover, this can be objectified as the ‘male gaze’ (Laura Mulvely).

Cover lines

Barcode

Page 20: AS Media Studies Log book

Genre: Classical magazine

Barcode

Price - £4.98 Date

Cover lines, that inform the audience on what’s going to be featured in the magazine.

Very clear overall layout of the magazine, much like the Billbord front cover, very simple but effective.

Huge masthead that attracts the readers attention straight away. There is also some ‘difference’ (Steve Neale) because not a lot of magazines have their masthead, the same as the genre of music.

Headline is positioned at the bottom left this time. Slightly different from the other magazines. Music magazines usually contain a sub-headline.

Page 21: AS Media Studies Log book

My Chosen Genre Of Magazine

I chose to create a Hip/Hop magazine because I can relate to the genre, I listen to Hip/Hop music myself so it should make it easier to produce a magazine, as I already have pre knowledge on the genre. Although I love Hip/Hop, I knew it was going to be difficult because the leading magazines in this genre have a unique simple layout, within their magazines and I knew it was going to be a challenge for me to replicate this, however I was ready to face what was coming my way.

XXL was my chosen magazine of inspiration because it’s such a well recognised magazine, not tomention that it’s the most popular and the the most read magazine in the genre of Hip/Hop. So by using the magazine as my ways of inspiration, hopefully my product will be at a similar standard, if not the same.

There were other magazines of the genre that I used to guide me in the right path. Magazines such as Vibe, Scratch and TheSource. I noticed that these magazines had a few ‘similarities’(Steve Neal).

As you can see red, black and white are frequently used used colours in this genre is magazine, which is an example of ‘repetition’ (Steve Neale).

Page 22: AS Media Studies Log book

Conventions Of A XXL: Front CoverXXL is a monthly

magazines devoted to releasing issues on new music and on going events in

the Hip/Hop community. They usually have black

male artist on their front cover, which is a representation

of their target audience

Not much information on the

cover lines

Masthead

Headline is very noticeable, it’s ‘star

appeal’ because Chris Brown is a

well known artist in the Hip/Hop genre

The chains and rings on his hand

are associated with the Hip/Hop

genre The main image has strong

connotations of what the artist is going through, he is clearly having a

hard time adjusting to fame

Page 23: AS Media Studies Log book

Conventions Of A XXL: Contents Page

XXL normally has two contents

pages, which is a ‘difference’ (Steve Neale) from every

other magazine

The A-side focuses on main stories related to the

genre.

The B-side concentrates more on sub stories, e.g. fashion and gossip, within the genre.

The A-side has one main image,

usually the artist featured on the

front cover

There is a quote from the artist

Date

B-side has eye candy, the target audience for this

magazine are males, attractive women on the

page for the males pleasure, ‘female

gaze’ (Laura Mulvely)

XXL logo

Photo credits

Editor’s letter

Page number, web address and issue

number

Use a plain background on their contents page, to focus more on the information

Page 24: AS Media Studies Log book

Conventions Of A XXL: Double Page Spread

The artists located in the

main image are related to the

genre, this tells you the

magazine is Hip/Hop one.

As you can see there is a lot of swearing and slang words

included in the quote. The language is informal.

Which denotes the type of

audience that read the

magazine, are likely to speak the same way.

Web address

Page number

The interview is not that long but there is no differentiation between the interviewee and

the interviewer

Again the background

on the image is very plain

and simple, no bright colours

at all.

The layout of the page is not too

complicated. It’s nice for the reader

to read.

Page 25: AS Media Studies Log book

The target audience XXL magazine can be denoted as African American males, with a middle class background, aged between 15 and 29 (Hartley). This is because 78% of their readers are male and 67% are black and they would not necessarily target anyone out of that age range. Anyone below the age of 15 may not not find Hip/Hop music interesting, usually children below 15 are into games and toys. Adults over the age of 29 still might enjoy listening to Hip/Hop music but its not something they would class as a hobby. So I think that people between the ages 15 and 29 are appropriate. They would conform to being ‘social climbers’ (Maslow) as the magazine offers a lot of fashion adverts, usually by artists who have their own clothing lines, for instance Drake. Meaning that the readers will know the latest fashion and buy clothes before anyone else does. XXL gives out a variety of information, in return readers are ‘informed and educated’ (Katz) on exclusive news that someone who doesn't’ read the magazine wouldn't’t know

From the research completed into this media product, I think the USP is the extra information they give to their readers, on the Hip/Hop culture. For example, they don’t just give information on the latest music, they have other ways of entertaining their target audience, they talk about the origin of Hip/Hip (California). This is a ‘difference’ (Steve Neal) most music magazines just focus on interviews and reviews but they don’t inform their audiences about the actual genre of music. XXL are also known for having eye opening front covers, staring the best artists in the business. Their main images, are predominantly main images or mid shots, looking straight at the camera. This is a use of direct address, making the reader feel like what ever is featured in the magazine, is for them. It also attracts a bigger audience because more and more people will want to find out about their favourable artist. ‘Star appeal’ (Richard Dyer)

Page 26: AS Media Studies Log book

Publisher research

XXL is published by Harris Productions

11 issues are released every year

The magazines target audience are males between the ages 15 and 29 (Hartley), which is reflected by the Price of the magazine.

XXL and The Source Magazine are the most Read magazines in the Genre of Hip/Hop.

XXL has branched outTo have many other Magazines such as Scratch Magazine, HipHop Soul and Eye Candy.

XXL magazine was established in 1997 by a former Source magazine employee, who made the Magazine in a similar style.


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