By Jude Gouldbourne-Biss

Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? Firstly I researched various magazines such as;Billboard,Vibe etc…, not specifically looking at my chosen target audience for UK Hip-Hop just to get a feel of how various magazine layouts look like.

Question 1(continued): In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? I didn’t like the look of how these magazines looked as I felt they looked to messy with loads of text especially on the vibe magazine in the previous slide. I looked at magazines with a similar target audience and mise-en-scene as I have such as “Hip Hop” and “Wordplay". "Wordplay” really caught my eye so I decided to use a similar layout and mise-en-scene to theirs . I used a forest theme for the background of the photos used as I wanted to do something a bit different from many of the backgrounds I had seen of graffiti on building and built up areas in cities. I have challenged these type of magazines by using a different style of mise-en-scene to the wordplay magazine. They have either used a plain coloured background or a built up area in a city or town. As for the general colour scheme and have kept the original colours of the image used as when making the magazine the natural colours stood out more along with the text. This is also agrees with my results from my questionnaire as many people wanted to see brighter colours rather than a dull or grayscale.

Question 1(continued): In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? As for camera angles I have challenged the majority of magazines by using a longshot as I wanted to capture a big amount of the background as well as the whole posture and stance of the two models I have used. The use of the natural background goes well with adding to the colours I gave used on the front cover

Question 1(continued): In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? Tom my model for Reload magazine Fliptrix Hip Hop artist

Question 1(continued): In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? I wanted my models to wear similar clothing to an artist called Fliptrix. Fliptrix is big in the UK Hip Hop and is a good example of the general look of Hip Hop artists. However I didn’t want to everyone who was modelling to look similar so I asked them to vary there costumes by one wearing a cap and different styles of jackets so that there was a difference and an exact representation of this Hip Hop artist.

Q2: How does your media product represent certain social groups?

Q2(continued): How does your media product represent certain social groups? I have a similar mise-en-scene compared with the some famous Hip Hop artists in the UK. The typical stereotype of stars seen in laid back casual and fashionable clothing such as hoodies, hats, parka coats etc… to set the tone of the magazine being aimed at UK Hip Hop fans. I have used mid and long shots to capture the full image of my models on the magazine to show this. I have represented social groups from south/south west region by having the background setting in a forest which connote to the outside and nature. This however breaks the typical stereotype of a Hip Hop artists of being located in large built up city.

Q3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? One publishing company who may want to publish my Magazine is SpinMedia. They publish one Americas and the worlds biggest Hip Hop magazine Vibe. Although Town square media they are an American based company they may want to expand to other countries. I think this as they have a similar ethos to my magazine. They also denote some of there pages to the latest fashion and artists used in my magazine wear the latest fashionable clothing. Another company that could publish my magazine could be my researched publisher Future PLC. I think this because the company have not yet got a magazine in the Hip Hop genre of music which means the magazine would not interfere with sales from any of the other magazines. This would be also beneficial to them as this could attract more customers for the company which may even boost sales of some of there other magazines

Q4: who would be the audience for your product? My desired audience would be young UK Hip Hop lovers who keep up top date with the latest news and artists who are ranged from 16-24. I have chose this age group as Hip Hop artists tend to use somewhat explicit language as the majority of them are signed to independent record labels who have more freedom than say an artist who was signed to a major record label when writing their lyrics when creating a new song. The majority of my desired audience would most likely till be in education or starting a job or apprenticeship. The magazine would be catered for the middle to lower class as the I feel the magazine is high end in its quality although there is excessive use of slang which is typically associated with the lower classes. Other audiences could Possibly be people who just generally like the genre Hip Hop, whether it’s American or a different style of Hip Hop in a certain region.

Q5: How did you attract/address your audience? In my magazine I have used many different ways to attract my audience. Firstly I have gone with the answers given by my questionnaire of using bright colours such as the natural sunset of the background on the front cover, along with the use of blues, yellows and oranges through out the magazine. Using a bright colours scheme really appeals to my target audience of people aged 16-24, however not used excessive bright colours as this may have set a different tone to the magazine. Secondly I have used a simple san serif font which connotes to being informal linking the ethos of the magazine. The mise-en-scene of the models which also addresses to my audience as they are wearing very laidback casual clothing which the majority of teenagers and young adults would be wearing similar clothing. To improve my magazine I could have maybe filled up more of the blank space with more images as images appeal highly to my target audience as seen in the results from my questionnaire.

Q6:What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? Firstly when taking my pictures it was my first time using a high quality camera and needed to be able to adapt to how it works and to effectively use the functions compared to simple camera or phone camera. However as for software I did know how use the basic functions of Photoshop such as cropping, enlarging etc. and how to use some of the image manipulation features. Although I did have to watch some videos on how to use some of the more difficult functions such as cutting the image to fit the page specifically and using strokes to tidy make the image look clean. By using a high quality camera it allowed me to capture and better standard of image which definitely appeals more to the audience as from a young persons point of view the image is the most important part that attracts them to a magazine. To improve I could have used different types of effects of my images that I have used. For example I could have changed the contrast of the colours on my images, used shadows or possible warped the image to create an effect.

Q6:What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? The majority of music magazines/magazines in general just used a standard a4 paper measurement, then I needed fit the original image to this size

Cropped and cleaned version Q6(continued):What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? Original photo Cropped and cleaned version

Q7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? When making the preliminary task I was very slow in getting the hang of how Photoshop works as It had been a long time since I used the software. As I progressed making the preliminary task I was able to use the tools on Photoshop efficiently and was slowly gaining knowledge of using the harder tools later for my final piece. Along with knowledge of how to use the tools I was able to notice faults and ways of improving how I wanted the layout to look like by previously looking at published magazines. As for the way I take a picture has differed massively. For example in my final piece I used a low and long angle shot which captured a lot of the background and the whole of the models body which created a bright tone and there stance. Whereas on my preliminary task I didn’t take into consideration what I wanted in the background and what type pf shot would be most effective and appealing to my audience.

Preliminary task Final piece Q7(continued): Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? Preliminary task Final piece