1.
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of music
magazines)
How the artist is represented?
I chose to portray my artist as a hip-hop artist/ rapper and I did this in
many different ways. Firstly, I used clothing to help show the genre. I
wanted yellow clothing to go with the colour scheme and the title, but
when I experimented with this in my mock-ups I thought it made my
magazine too bright and slightly changed the genre which I didn’t want.
Therefore I found a darker piece of clothing with a slight bit of yellow on
it which kept the artists chosen genre and still fitted in with the colour
scheme. I also chose to have him looking away from the camera on the
front cover so he looked more mysterious, so that the audience would want to read
further into the magazine to know more about him, whereas in the actual magazine
he does look at the camera and the audience learn allot about him. I also shot him
posing and pointing to his ‘G-Shock’ watch which portrayed more of a hip-hop style.
The second artist was portrayed differently as I wanted a brighter character in the
magazine to lift the vibes and emotions given. Therefore, I gave him brighter clothes
so he stood out more but not so bright that the colour scheme was compromised.
Whether he looked at the camera or not, I felt, did not make a difference as I had
him posing to show a certain style. His article was about his clothing range but I
chose to show him listening to music to keep .the music genre of the magazine.
I chose to use items such as watches and the model having his hood up to also show
the genre and style of the character. In using good clothing brands such as Bape, G-
Shock and LRG the model was portrayed as a more iconic figure.
The title
The title of the magazine took allot of consideration and was helped allot by the
feedback I was given. I came up with the title ‘Millionaire’ and had it fully across the
top of the front cover as the masthead.
Then in the feedback the fact that the masthead was too long was suggested, but on
the other hand the name really matched the genre of the magazine. Therefore I
decided to shorten the name but still keep the title by doing this:
This way I kept the name and the font and still shortened it to fit better on the front
cover as the masthead.
I chose to make the masthead yellow to go with the colour scheme and keep the
feeling of flashiness, boldness and money. I made the subheadings in blue to
complete the colour scheme with maximum effectiveness. I believe that the title ties
in perfectly with the ‘flashy’ style I was going for.
The font I used for the main cover flow reminded me of neon lighting which I believe
gave a ‘club’ sort of feel to the magazine, which helped to draw in the younger
audience. The font for the other cover lines and the articles is just plain text which
shows that they are informative, but the colour editing of them made it more
aesthetically pleasing to my target audience. The colours I used are changed from
paragraph to paragraph to show a pattern in my colour scheme which also makes it
look more interesting.
Camerawork and framing of images
I believe that the camerawork and how the images are
shown are one of the most important parts of the
magazine as you have to consider all aspects such as:
lighting, positioning etc. Which go together to make the
magazine more effective. I chose to
concentrate on all of these aspects when
shooting mine so that the genre could
be portrayed how I wanted it. To make
the genre fit I used low lighting to
make it slightly dark but used it
effectively such as giving a shadow to the model
to make the picture how i wanted it and also good
quality. I also used the positioning of the model to
good effect by using their body positions, poses
and certain movements which showed the style I wanted. Such as
the pose where one of my models is pointing at his watch, which
shows a sense of style
and one where he is looking back which shows a sense of him
being laid back and ‘cool’.
Graphology/page layout
The genre is shown over the four pages through aspects such as colour scheme, model
poses, style and clothing and the actual articles themselves which all help towards
portraying the genre. The colour scheme shows a money incorporated and high class hip-
hop feel and the model backs this up by posing certain ways, such as with his hood up and
looking at his watch.
Colour scheme
I got the idea of the colour scheme from an issue of ‘Vibe’ magazine which is
on the right. But I decided to add more colour to brighten it up with a blue,
but still keep the hip-hop style by making it a darker blue. The models
clothing used fits in with the colour scheme and also fits in with the hip-hop
feel.
I used all of these aspects carefully so that if I published the magazine, I would gain
maximum coverage.
2.How does your media product represent particular social
groups?
The social group I was aiming for was a younger age group of people who
are interested in music, specifically hip-hop, and are interested in clothing
and fashion, which would all be included in my magazine. Preferably a
group of people who are quite wealthy and fashionable but not too rich
which may take away the middle class hip-hop lifestyle.
3. What kind of media institution might distribute your product and why?
A publishing company called ‘Wicks Group of Companies’ is a very well known and very
wealthy publishing company and has published magazines such as ‘Vibe’. I believe that, due
to their experience in the hip-hop magazine industry and the connections to famous hip-hop
artists they know, they would be perfect for publishing my magazine.
4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
This is Josh Stevens, he is 18 and goes to college where he is
studying textiles, art and music. His ambition is to become a
designer of CD covers for famous music artists such as Jay-Z and
Kid Cudi, as he believes it will open up more opportunities for
him in the music industries. He is into hip-hop and RnB and his
favourite artist is Kanye West due to his style and passion for
music. He shops for clothing at places such as the bape store
and online at urbanindustry.co.uk where he purchases clothing
makes such as: Bape, Adidas originals, LRG and 10 Deep. His
favourite TV programs are Everybody hates Chris and my wife
and kids. And his favourite films is The Longest Yard.
6. What have you learnt about
technologies from the process of
constructing this product?
Camera - I used a camera with a
gooa enough megapixel amount
which gave enough detail for a
good quality picture.
Photoshop - This is adobe Photoshop where I have
learnt, very effectively, how to use all the aspects in
the software which are used to create good images
and compositions.
The magnetic lasso tool is the tool I used the
most to help cut out my images.
Blogger – Blogger has become very important
in my media project therefore I
have improved on all areas of
that, how to use it and how to
present my compositions.
7. Looking back at your preliminary task (the school magazine task),
what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full
product?
The magazine cover and contents page above are the ones I created for my preliminary task.
I believe I have learnt so much from the time I created this, to this day and the creating of
my final piece. I have improved on skills such as: Photoshop skills, camera work skills and
basic knowledge of magazine constitutions which helped me to put things together.
My use of mise en scene has drastically improved as when I first started I tried to cram as
much in as possible and have improved on the fact that using the right mise en scene and
the right amount, even if not much, can give a great effect to the image create any genre.
Also, my camera shots have improved as I have had enough practice to know what types of
angles and what types of body shots work best with what aspect I am trying to create. I used
to go for simple images such as just a plain mid-shot, which can be effective but I did not use
to the right effect. I now know to vary my angles and not use too many of the same.
I believe my final product in comparison to my preliminary shows the vast improvement
which has occurred over the course of the year.
