J O R DA N F RA N C I S

EVALUATION

IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE

FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

My magazine challenges forms and conventions of existing magazines of this genre thorough the language it uses, my magazine uses intellectual language, such that you would expect to see in a higher brow magazine. The slogan that comes with my magazine is the ‘Hip Hop magazine with

substance’ and the purpose of my magazine is to challenge people’s expectations of a Hip Hop magazine that it uses basic diction, in my

magazine I used words such as

‘amalgamation’, words like this would never be expected to be seen in a Hip

Hop magazine. The phrases people expect to hear see in this semantic field

are hip hop slang orientated like ‘stacks,’ ‘gang’ and ‘army’.

taken from the extract of XXL to the left. these words provide a representation that

The readers are unintelligent.

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Design wise, my magazine has followed codes and conventions of Hip Hop magazines. The dark colour scheme is congruous with the Hip Hop music scene as artists are often seen

wearing black clothing.

Picking up this magazine there would be no qualms over the colours used and could be seen on any other existing

Hip Hop magazine. The amount of pages in my Magazine challenges are a lot less then what would be expected,

this is because my magazine is a weeklyrelease so challenges the form of

existing magazines in this way. The pagesthough, still contain information about gig

dates and things of the such plus advertisements promoting local products and goods that would interest the reader such as Hip Hop acts at the HMV institute and locally

Produced street wear such as Benjart.

HOW DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT REPRESENT PARTICULAR SOCIAL GROUPS?

My magazine has a positive representation on the Hip Hop group unlike what other Hip Hop magazines may do. Hip Hop magazines generally paint a negative picture of the genre as a whole, they include things such as artists being arrested, thembeing in fights or taking drugs. Maybe unintentionally this is done but nevertheless this is what is portrayed and my magazine is going to avoid all temptation of shining light on negative stories, and go against the ‘bad news is good news’ way of producing a magazine and try and give a positive image of the social groups as well as the genre as a whole.

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• My magazine also has a positive representation as it shows the audience in a light which isn’t usually highlighted by other magazines. Through the language of my magazine it suggests that Hip Hop listeners aren’t as uneducated as people think. Using a language like this means that the audience is going to have to be intellectual to read it and because of the genre it shows that Hip Hop listeners aren’t unintelligent as things suggest. Below is an extract from my double page spread highlighting the language used. Another representation that my magazine presents is that it show the audience to be in a small, niche and cool group, through it being a UK only publication and its lessened price.

WHAT KIND OF MEDIA INSTITUTION MIGHT DISTRIBUTE YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT AND WHY?

• My magazine is an underground magazine so it wouldn’t necessarily be distributed by a big institution. This is to do with my audience, Hip Hop fans feel like they have been led along by an artist when comes from an underground position (like my magazine is) and they then sign to a label they are often said to be ‘selling out’ because they don’t tend to make the same music as a label starts to take creative control.

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A possible institution that could distribute my magazine would be Vibe Media. If the magazine did join to an institution I would need full creative control and the magazine would still have the same authentic, underground feel. Also they already produce a successful Hip Hop magazine so have an already existing audience, but the magazine they produce already doesn’t use challenging language like mine so it will attract an audience who are looking to challenge themselves instead of passively reading.

WHO WOULD BE THE AUDIENCE FOR YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT?

My magazine will attract multiple audiences through the adapted stylised approach it takes. It will attract existing Hip Hop fans who feel that they are being underestimated in terms of their intelligence and the reason they will be attracted to my magazine is because it will actively challenge them. Another audience segment may be intellectual people who are looking for something new musically and my magazine may be for them as their need to be intellectually challenged is already being fulfilled. My primary audience though will be Hip Hop fans who are interested in finding out about ‘the next big thing,’ most featured artists will be underground artists who are on the verge of making it big. This will turn the magazines into a collectable item as if the artist makes it big then they will have one of if not their first magazine covers.

HOW DID YOU ATTRACT/ADDRESS YOUR AUDIENCE?

I attracted my audience through things such as titles, images, fonts and colours but I feel that the main attraction was the language used. It may put some readers off but the intelligent reader will feel it feeds their need to be challenged linguistically and this will attract them to read it. The less intelligent reader will be attracted through things such as the layout; it is structured and carefully laid out. The images may also attract people who aren’t the most well off; the model isn’t dressed in expensive clothes so maybe the audience might be able to relate to the image this way. This idea of my audience not being as affluent as others links into my magazine releasing weekly.

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My magazine is an underground type, so I made it a weekly release which separates it from established magazines of this genre like XXL who release issues monthly. Doing this attracts my audience as they can’t afford to spend £6 on a magazine but can afford £2.

I chose things such as the colours and layouts through the research I gained from my questionnaire analysis after asking people who fit my target audience. Darker tones are also usually employed by successful magazines of this genre.

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT ABOUT TECHNOLOGIES FROM THE PROCESS OF CONSTRUCTING THIS PRODUCT?

From designing the products with use of DTP’s I found it largely time consuming but the programs such as Fireworks, PowerPoint, Publisher and Draw Plus helped largely due to there ability to manipulate images so they fit my front cover design.

The products are all industry standard so weren’t expensive as other possible image manipulation programs such as Photoshop. When we gained access to Photoshop we learnt multiple new techniques such as layering, masking, image manipulating and resizing images without pixilation occurring. After using Photoshop and then InDesign we saw the stark contrast of capabilities that it had in comparison to Microsoft Publisher. This transition between the two programs was needed.

LOOKING BACK AT YOUR PRELIMINARY TASK, WHAT DO YOU FEEL YOU HAVE

LEARNT IN THE PROGRESSION FROM IT TO THE FULL PRODUCT?

• In moving from preliminary to the full task I feel I learnt that the depth of analysis had to be in much greater detail, analysing magazine covers, double page spreads and contents page using media terminology was vitally important in the actual task, when compared to the preliminary the analysis didn’t have to be as deep. Something else I have learnt is the need for the design to be as professional looking as possible. Using Microsoft Publisher isn’t the best of designing product and it felt clumpy so the moving to a more professional program was needed.

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For this reason we used the industry standard desktop top programs Photoshop and InDesign. Using these gave us the intricacies that were a necessary if we wanted our magazines to look professional and of high quality. The programs gave us the ability to add more technical effects to our images such as lens flare and embellish. It also provided us with more font styles and the capability of downloading fonts from sites such as ‘DaFont’ and incorporating them into our work which gives an added dimension of style to our magazines; this simply isn’t possible on Microsoft Publisher. Learning these important techniques furthered the professionalism of my magazine.

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• Also I learnt that the need to ask more developed questions in order to get better feedback was also very important. If I asked questions to the public from the preliminary questionnaire none of the feedback would have been that useful so improving my questionnaire was something that needed to be done and the progression from preliminary to the main task shows this. I have also learnt the importance that minor details can have on the overall product. Putting things like web addresses on the magazine allow the audience to socialise and feel like the magazine is greater than what is presented in front of them. Other minor things such as making sure dates work and page numbers are properly selected is all vitally important in making the magazine as professional as possible.