molly

In what ways does your media product use, develop

or challenge forms and conventions of real media

products?

Date line and price

Cover lines

Barcode

Main Heading

Main image

Main cover line

Puff

When creating my magazine I used many generic codes and conventions that can be see in a wide range of magazines. In class we completed a codes and conventions task. This helped my understanding of codes and conventions and how to use them. http://mollymcdonaldmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/analyzing-magazine.html After this I used a range of main images and added in the codes and conventions. This helped me to further develop the use of codes and conventions in more imaginative ways. After completing these tasks I had a clear understanding of the basis of my magazine.

Below I have drawn arrows pointing to the stereotypical codes and conventions that should be used. I have made my left third white on a black background because I believe this makes it stand out. I have also used a main cover line and three smaller cover lines because this is what is seen in a magazine. I have used a demo as a puff and I have also used a main image, barcode and a date and price line. This means that I have adhered to all the rules of codes and conventions in magazine publication.

Conventions

Challenges to Codes and ConventionsI have challenged some of the conventions slightly to give my magazine its own identity. I did this by having a plain black background behind the main image. Usually there is something behind the main image or there is a white background. I have also used two females for my main image which you would not usually see. This is not common for a music magazine and it gives it originality and something different. The masthead is in white and this is also not a common colour used for mastheads. Giving my magazine originality.

Influences for front coverI looked at a variety of magazines for my influences and I did not just look at rap magazines. http://mollymcdonaldmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/research-on-type-of-magazine-i-want-to.html I looked at four magazines in detail and how they helped with the creation of my magazine.

The black background I copied from this. I thought that this made the main image stand out

I liked this type of bold writing. I thought that it stood out.

I saw this one and liked the idea of a persons whole body being in the front cover.

All the magazines are giving direct address and I thought this meant there was a connection between the reader and the artist/artists.

Contents

For both of my main images I wanted them to be of a good quality like other magazines therefore I thought about lighting and the type of camera.

I used the same colours as I did on the front cover so that they are linked. This is like other magazines as all of the pages usually tie in with each other.

I love the way that ‘CON’ is on one line and ‘TENTS’ is on the other. I believe this gives my magazine edge and makes it different to others. Not following the normal conventions. By having the black writing on the white background and the white writing on the black means that the writing stands out and that it is easy to read.

I have also included reviews and this is a common convention of a music magazine.

Influences for contents

The Contents page is a lot like most contents pages. There are two images on there that are in boxes and are relevant to what is inside the magazine. The writing on the contents is in a clear, bold font making it stand out. One of the pictures is on the right and the other on the left. This is not following usual conventions as usually they are both on the right. However this gives my contents page edge. I got inspiration for the dark colours by looking at other rap magazines such as HIPHOP. I got my inspiration about writing on the left from looking at Q magazine and I also found that I did not want too much writing on it after looking at No.1 magazine. http://mollymcdonaldmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/contents-ideas.html

Double page spread

When creating my double page spread I used Q magazine as an influence. I have put a white V behind the writing and I got this idea after researching into magazines.http://mollymcdonaldmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/for-me-best.html I also used the two large pictures because on a lot of contents pages there is often a large picture of the person or people that the text is about. This means I did stick to the conventions but I also changed the way

that I did this as I have got two images opposite each other which I believe gives my magazine an individual identity unlike any other music magazine.

How does your media product represent particular social

groups?

Target audienceMy target audience is for a niche market, any one at any age that likes rap music. As it is a rap/hip hop magazine any one that likes any other music and does not like rap could still be interested in my magazine as it has reviews and fresh faces appearing in the music world. However, although it can be anyone who likes rap it is mainly aimed at the younger generation who are into new upcoming rappers and like to know what's new. As my magazine is the genre of rap I needed to make sure that people knew it was about rap without having to look at what was inside. I did this by using plain colours such as black and white as after looking at other rap

magazines I have found that plain colours are the best to use. I also dressed the cover stars in a way that stereotypical rappers would be dressed. The two girls have a lot of attitude as one is holding her collar and the other biting her chain. This attitude and behaviour is rebellious much like the younger generation such as teenagers.

Pictures I took

All of the pictures that I took are all full of energy and stick to the rappers image. I have pictures of both female and male this means that it Is not aimed at one type of gender and is open for anyone to read. Although the way that they are dressed is like stereotypical rappers the clothes are not clothes that teenagers don’t wear as some may dress like this and this adds to the similarity to teenagers.

What kind of music institution might

distribute your media product and why?

How it would be distributed

The genre of my magazine is Hip-hop/Rap. My magazine shows fresh young faces so I can imagine that it would be displayed a lot and would be a top seller. This is why I think that the best distributor for my product would be Bauer Media as they publish a distribute a huge variety and range of magazine genres for different target audiences. Therefore I feel that the company would be good for distributing and advertising my product due to the fact that there aren’t currently any popular rap magazines being distributed in Britain.

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

Who would be the audience for

your media product?

Target Market

My target market will be anyone who likes rap/hiphop. However I need to choose an age range. The age range for people that I am trying to buy this magazine is for people aged 16 to 21. This is a small age range however it is who I am aiming my product at. It is also open for boys and girls and is not swaying in any way towards one particular gender. I did a questionnaire for people aged 16-18 to see what they liked the most when it comes to genre and what they would like to see in a magazine and this helped me greatly with what I wrote in the contents and in the interview.

http://mollymcdonaldmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/what-people-would-like-to-see-in-my.html The results of my questionnaires told me that a lot of people at this age range wanted to see a rap magazine. I also wanted to do rap as this was something that interested me and a lot of my friends like rap although it is not some of there favourite genres the people that are in the rap

world are interesting and this may also make people of my target market buy this magazine.

How did you attract/ address your audience?

Attracting my audience

Mast headMy magazine is called flare. This is a simple and easy name to remember. My target market of teens do not want a magazine that has a complicated name or a name that is not different. The colours white on black encourage aspects of my magazine to stand out. The words are in block letters that are bold and easy to read. Being bold they could attract the eye of teens when it is on the shelf.

Cover linesAll of my cover lines are in capital letters and they are white against a black background making them easily readable when on the shelf. The language that I have used is all easily readable and understandable. I have also used words that appeal to my target audience such as AMAZING. There is also a phrase on there that says ‘GUESS WHOS BACK’ This could make them want to look inside at where the question is answered. It is all easy to understand and there are words on there that the majority of people would understand.

Attracting my audience

ImagesAll of the images that I have used show strong character. All the pictures show confidence. There is also a lot of attitude to the main image and a slight rebelliousness. This would make it appeal more to my target audience as they may relate to the image which would make them feel more involved. Three of the images out of four are giving eye contact to the reader and I believe this is very important and interacts more with the reader and makes them feel more drawn to the image.

ColoursI have used black and white of the main colours and I believe that the white writing on the black background looks very effective. Also Rap and Hip hop are not usually associated with bright cheerful colours but dark and shady colours. Having these colours attracts my target audience of rap/hip hop fans even more.

What have you learn about technologies from the process of

constructing the product?

Different programmes that I usedWhile making my magazine I used a number of different programmes. These programmes all had their own strengths and weaknesses. All three of the following programmes helped me in the creation of my magazine. Publisher Paint.net Page plus

Strengths • Very easy to use.• Can add text

• Can use different shapes and add text.

• Good when wanting to add an effect onto an image.

• Good in cropping images.

• Can add effects. • Can put text

backward or forward one or more.

• Can have double page spread.

Weakness • Does not have a lot of effects.

• Can not crop an image.

• Hard to put mast head over back ground and under main image etc.

• I found it difficult to use as I had not used it before.

• Hard to crop a image properly.

• Could use to many of the effects and spoil the image.

• Cropping can be difficult if the background is similar.

• Can be hard to use.

Drafting and planning While I was drafting and planning I used a number of existing magazines for inspiration and did a lot of drafts and took pictures in preparation for the assembly of my final magazine. I compared many different magazines and this helped me choose the lay out, colour scheme and the type of main image that I wanted on the front cover. I also assembled a number of magazines which helped me to test out what I wanted for my magazine. After seeing my drafts I realised what I did and did not want on my magazine. For example at first I thought that I wanted the back ground white, but then I decided to have a brick wall. After trying a brick wall and a metal wall I decided a brick wall was best. However I then decided that I wanted my main image in front of the masthead and the background behind the mast head and this worked better and looked better with a plain black background. This was all part of drafting and planning. http://mollymcdonaldmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/draft-front-cover.html http://mollymcdonaldmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/draft-double-page-spread.html

http://mollymcdonaldmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/draft-contents.html http://mollymcdonaldmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/perlimery-task-final.html

Photographs I took http://mollymcdonaldmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/main-image-finals.html I took a number of pictures that I could of used as my main image. I took a number of images so that I could look and compare them all as a part of planning, I needed to see what one would look best as a main image, what one gave the most attitude and the one that would most likely make the audience look at my magazine and want to buy it.

Photographs I took I also took a number of pictures that I could use in my contents page. I took these in the drama studio of my school. This was because I took lighting into consideration and where the best place to take them was. I think the lighting is very good and the images are all clear.

Using Blogger

I used blogger to display my work as I did it. All of my drafting and planning, codes and conventions tasks, preliminary tasks are all on there. It is a timed record in lead up to the design of my final magazine. This programme allows me to organise and store all of my work. It means that I can delete, edit and create posts where I like and it also means that it is saved and there it is less likely to delete and I can not loose it.

Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel you have

learnt in the progression to the full product?

Preliminary task front cover

Preliminary task

Final front cover

In the preliminary task my cover lines did not look good. Also I have over used the effects. This was one of the negatives that I picked when I picked out the weakness for paint.net. I also did not use many of the codes and conventions such as a barcode and a price/dateline. The writing is also very small for the puff and one of the cover lines. Also the colours do not match and the style of the writing is not in a good font.

Preliminary task contents This is my contents

that I first constructed. It seriously lacks in everything including pictures. I have not included any pictures and there are only six pages on there. The colours are very bland and the page numbers are also not right. The colours are just red and white and although this fits into the colour scheme of our school the colours are boring and so is the font.

My final magazine front cover, contents and double page spreadI am extremely happy with my final piece and I am very happy with how far I have came since I did my preliminary task. Researching other magazines has helped me with the style that I want for my magazine. I have also found out what my target market look for in a magazine. I have used bold writing that flows throughout the magazine. The style of the magazine fits together throughout all pages and I have used the correct codes and conventions that are on stereotypical magazines. I feel as though my magazine is different and unique with the right amount of attitude to catch the audiences attention.