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Where is your DPS?  this is your first priority

and where is your college magazine?  this is your second priority.

Evaluation Question 7: Looking back at the preliminary task what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to a full product?

I took all the pictures used in my music magazine using the Canon EOS 400D and I edited the pictures using photoshop before they were put onto my magazine. I enjoyed this part of the task because I had some sort of freedom to choose the outcome of my work and I  enjoyed that. Overall, I found this part of the task relatively simple compared to other sections. Even though it took me time to get a hang of using photoshop, I was given a helping hand along the way, so I was still enable to make me vision of my magazine a reality.

Operating a professional camera was not a new thing for me, getting to grips with Canon EOS 400D was easy and it was made simple and easy to learn what to do with the camera. Personally, I think i took some good shots for my music magazine and these  photographs can be seen on my posts 'original photographs'. (All my photographs I originally planned to use in my coursework, before they were edited. Making sure equipment and props were organised was relatively simple also. I had no problem finding models and finding a time to be able to shoot them all. Luckily all the models I wanted were in my Media class, so that helped make things easier. Before we started shooting I already know what I wanted from my models so this made the process move along swiftly and we avoided taking up too much time.

Moving onto the main task, I learnt h ow to connect triggers connecting to the camera and I learnt safety rules and hazards while working with some of these equipment. I took this into great consideration to make sure that I did not get hurt while using any of the equipment and also that I didn't break any of the equipment while using it.

So I can now say that I know how to connect the triggers in the camera and I also learnt how to take photographs properly - with the right camera shots and angles. I also now know how to use Adobe photoshop, I am much more efficient when it comes to using photoshop, but there is still room for improvement if I do say  so myself. I made sure that my pictures were edited exactly how I planned and wanted them to be, using tools like; the lasso tool, spot healing tools and patch tools.

The weakness area of my work I would say is that I could have possibly made the front cover more detailed to make it resemble a real music magazine (such as VIBE), this would have given my magazine a realism effect and also the same with the contents page. I would have made it more colourful and make it to resemble the front cover of my music magazine more because I don't think my front page is consistent with my contents page. This is one of the things I would change about my magazine. However, one strength of my work I would say is that my photographs were taken well and my use of images corresponded well with the purpose, genre and audience of my music magazine

Evaluation Question 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

During this coursework unit, I was able to work with and use many products of technology. The internet was the first piece of technology used. I was told I had to make an online blogger account on http://www.blogger.com/ - a blogging website that allows you to make posts for friends and others to see. Before starting this coursework, I had never used a blogging website but once I got started it was easy to get a hang of and very simple to use. On the other hand, it took me a while to understand how to arrange and organize me blog properly.

I also used the search engine google to help my find images of example magazine front covers and contents page (E.g. VIBE magazine & Q Magazine). I also used google to find Magazine front covers for my textual analysis

I also used Windows Microsoft 2007 (a standard word processor) to type up all the written work I did for this unit. I typed up my questionnaire and audience research. The programme microsoft has a installed spell-check and I took full advantage of this in order to make sure all my work was gramatically correct. In addition, I also used Microsoft excel to create and customise my graphs for my audience research.

One of the main programmes I used was Adobe Photoshop CS3. I used this to create and magazine, contents page and double page spread & I also used photoshop to edit my pictures before using them for my magazine. I also used photoshop to create. I was a beginner and didn't know how to use photoshop and it took me a while to get a hold of.

To take my pictures I used the Canon EOS 400D, this was not my first time using a professional camera but it was the first time that I had this make and model and I learnt how to position my models correctly between the background, soft-box and camera

Evaluation Question 5: How did you attract/address your audience?

One way I attracted my audience is because my model is wearing 'Beats by Dre'. This may attract an audience because they might then think that there is a prize or someway to win the headphones. One way or the other, the headphones will attract my potential target audience because 'Beats by Dre' are well known globally and you can immediately associate them with music and can immediately be associated with rapper and producer Dr.Dre (creator of Beats)

My model is wearing quite 'urban' clothing but the type of people my magazine attract might view this type of clothing as fashionable and something that they would wear. This factor could have contribute to how i attracted by audience, because they may feel the magazine represents the way they dress. Also my model wasn't wearing expensive designer clothing, in many ways this may be suitable to a lot of my audience to go out and buy, instead of spending loads of money on designer clothing which may be seen on celebrities in other magazines.  There are also sections on my contents dedicated to fashion that may have also attracted my audience.

Although my model Keisha is not wearing stereotypical girly clothing, she has a very pretty face and smile, which may have also helped to attract the audience. Her smile is warm and this itself may have had a effect on the audience. The photograph on a magazine front cover is stereotypically an attractive person and I think my magazine has stuck to this stereotypical idea. Keisha does not look girly, but still looks well-groomed, clean and presentable. This will help attract a male audience because stereotypically boys like the looks of pretty, young ladies and will also attract females as they might aspire to look like Keisha.

Evaluation Question 4: Who would be the audience for your media product?

'MUSiCHOUSE' is targeting an international audience, mainly focusing on people in the UK and USA. Although Hip-Hop and R&B are a popular international genre of music, Funky house and grime are very niche and mainstream. One of the main aims of my magazine would be to promote Grime and Funky house to get a wider audience in the states and in many parts of the United Kingdom as well.

My target audience ranges from the ages of 16 - 19 because I feel this age range will best relate to the magazine well and will have tge most interest in my magazine.; Also people older than this are more like to be working full-time and may have busy careers, this lessens the chance that they will have the time to always buy and read the magazine.

In terms of ethnicity my magazine is mainly aimed at males and females of a black ethnicity because based on my audience research I found that this ethnicity makes up the majority of people that listen to the genre of music. Also, the artists that represent this genre, the majority of them are also of a black ethnicity. I feel that my magazine will sell better because this ethnicity group are able to make more of a connection with the music

Evaluation Question 3: What kind of Media institution might distribute your media production and why?

I managed to do some research and decided that Bauer Media would be a suitable media institution to distribute my music magazine, here is the link to the company's website:

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

I decided to pick Bauer media because the magazines they publish are mainly attract and appeal to a rock audience - e.g. 'Q', 'KERRANG' and 'Mojo' magazines. Bauer media would benefit from publishing my magazines because it's a different genre of music and my magazine would be the first 'Hip Hop etc' magazine they would have. Which means they would be able to draw in a new audience of different tastes and ethnicities then the 'usual' customers they already have. I think that this would help them to develop as an an institution because they would be experienced in catering the interest of different races, E.g. black, mix-raced, white and  Asian etc. Bauer media are a worldwide empire that offers more than 300 magazines in 15 countries as well as online, TV and radio stations. This means that my magazine would have a powerful distribution, marketing and production backing, increasing the chance of my magazines making an impressive profit. My magazine would also be financially beneficial to Bauer because my magazine is the only type of its genre there would be no other magazine competing with me because we would be aiming to appeal to different audiences. 

The brands that currently exist with Bauer Media reach over 19 million UK adults over across multiple media channels, this means that my magazine would have the chance to be the first magazine to attract a new sort of audience. An audience with an interest in Hip Hop, R&B, UK Grime and Funky house. Grime and Funky house are seen as quite niche, especially Grime which is mostly popular in London and the outskirts of London and Funky house is well known in Great Britain. However, Hip Hop and R&B are popular genres of music all over the world. So there is a little something for everyone in my music magazine. 

Although rock is a very, very popular genre of music all over the world. The fact that my magazine is aimed at four similar but different genres it would have twice as much advertisers wanting to advertise my magazine, especially because Hip Hop and R&B are such popular genres of music.

Evaluation Question 2: How does your music magazine represent particular social groups?

 The three images represent the kind of artists I would use in my magazine (Rihanna at the top, followed by Nicki Minaj and then Wiz Khalifa). I think this is important to include because in a way it helps to represent the type of social groups that are interested in these kinds of artists. For example, Wiz Khalifa would attract – both females and males mainly from a black background and ‘jerkers’. ‘Jerkin’ is a recent street dance style and people who follow the fashion reject the typical ‘hip-hop trend’ of baggy jeans and baggy tops & shirts.

Instead they wear skinny jeans colours varying from usual to unusual colours and washes, geeky glass, hoodies and graphic t-shirts. People following this trend also tend to wear hitop or retro trainers (Chuck Taylor converses, Nike Hitop shoes, Vans authentic shoes etc).

My magazine is designed to represent both a male and female audience, mainly from a black background, between the ages of 16 – 21, as my genre of music is popular with this age group. I represented this ethnic group by making the main image of my magazine a stereotypical idea of people who listen to this genre of music.

 

 My model is a hoodie and bodywarmer. These items of clothing are stereotypical ideas of ‘urban’ clothing; hoodies are associated more with UK gangs and street culture. It can be argued that this UK street culture originally originated in America as a result of rap and Hip-Hop music. If you look at the 'XXL' cover of American rapper, he is also wearing a black hoodie. This connotes that 'Hip Hop' music is associated with gangs, guns, crime, sex violence etc. Rapper Nas is also wearing a huge piece rope chain, as is my model Keisha. A connection can easily be made to say certain people dress and present themselves in certain ways, from this you can easily make an assumption about the type of music they listen to.

Evaluation Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

When I started this unit, I annotated the front cover of ‘Vibe’ magazine. In my own music magazine, I tried to use the basis of how a real music would look and I used this cover of Vibe as a guideline, to help attract an audience potentially interested in my magazine.

It is common for a lot of magazine to use a large masthead, which is shown in this front cover, stretching from the one side of the page to the other and place at the top of the magazine, this is the traditional position of a masthead on a magazine. By creating a masthead this way it is able to attract reader’s attention. The masthead on my magazine is in a bold, eye-catching colour and in a bubble-writing style like all music magazines.

The central imagine of my magazine is an individual shot of a black female (Keisha) with ‘Beats by Dre’ headphones. I used this image because I felt that my potential target audience would be able to connect with it. My music magazine is a mix of Hip-Hop, R&B, UK Grime & Funky house – the main people that listen to this genre of music are of a black heritage, so hopefully people would be attracted to the magazine because of the image used. My image is in colour, I used Photoshop to brighten and airbrush my image. My image is placed on a white plain background, which helps the main focus to be on Keisha and denotes her as a musician and looking relative to the genre of music (Hip-Hop, R&B, UK Grime & Funky house).

Music Magazine Front Cover

This is my completed Front cover for my music magazine

College Magazine contents page

This is my finished contents page for my college magazine, based on the Q magazine design layout

Front Cover of College Magazine :)

This is the finished front cover based on my the vibe magazine template :)

Influences That Helped Me Create My Music Magazine

Vibe is a well-known Hip-Hop magazine, I tried to incorporate their front page layout into my own. I used this cover page especially and you might see some aspects similar to my cover page:

• The model is a female as is mine
• The model has a prop (in this case a camera), my models prop are headphones (Beats by Dre headphones)
• The models facial expression is fun and not so serious, which is the case with my model's facial expression
• The model in someway represents 'urban' culture as does mine
• The colour scheme is kept consistent throughout.
• The mention of famous people on the cover page to attract possible readers

Although Q magazine is a rock magazine, aimed at a Caucasian audience, completely opposite to everything my magazine stands for, I decided to use their contents page as a guildline because I like the look of it. It's neat, everything is under sections and it's easy to locate sections you want to read easier because of the way it's organised. Also, I like the fact that there is quite a large picture of a famous band, which automatically tells the audience that they are the main feature somewhere in the magazine and I tried to incorporate these things into my music magazine. 

Original Photos

These are my original photographs before I edited them

Audience Research

*Need to Upload this at college*

Textual Analysis of Magazine Front Cover :)

The 'College Lifestyle' magazine denotes a coloured mid-shot photograph of a man holding two text books in one hand, posing and smiling while looking directly into the lens of the camera. It is a mid-shot because its a shot from the waist (we are not able to see his legs) to the top of his head. The background of the photograph is plain and grey. The photograph takes up the majority of the magazine cover.

The masthead of the magazine is in a large serif font at the top of the magazine and below the masthead in tiny little font is the magazine's website.

'Dancehall's bright future...' is the magazine's main cover line because it has the biggest and boldest font compared to the rest of the cover lines. Below that three more cover lines, they are all in smaller font than the main cover line. All the cover lines on the front page have a heading, E.g. 'WHY WE LOVE BLACKBERRY' followed by a sentence in relation to the heading, E.g 'And why it's all the rage on campus'.

On the right hand side of the magazine are four more cover lines with the same concept (the heading, followed by a sentence in relation to the heading).

On top of the magazine's masthead is the magazines selling line 'Your exclusive guide to everything hip, hop and happening...' Like a typical magazine, the selling line is in small font and does not really stand out. On the bottom of the left hand side is the magazine's barcode and below that is the price of the magazine, showing the amount in both US and Canadian dollars.

The magazine's masthead is interesting because the magazine is called 'College Lifestyle' by the word college is in a bigger font and more eye-catching colour (bright green) than the word lifestyle - which is in a smaller, white font. It brings to attention that the magazine's main focus is about college and education and the magazine is  public for anyone to read. The effect of the colour choice on the masthead is that it draws people attention immediately as the bright green allows it to stand out from the grey background. The green and white colour scheme is followed through the whole front cover of the magazine - the selling line, all the cover-line and website link.

The magazine front cover's main image is a photograph of black male that appears to be in his early/mid thirties. He is wearing a plain white t-shirt, dark denim wash jeans, he has a black blazer-type jacket with silver rings around the buttons and he has a long silver chain that reaches just above his belly-button; there is a large cross pendant on the chain. In this picture, although the outfit is simple and understated, it's still quite fashionable and draws attention. I would say that the chain draws the most attention. I think the outfit was made to be understated so that it does not over-shine the green and white colour scheme on the front cover.

The photograph used in the magazine does not convey the typical idea of college and education. The model is not represented to be 'geeky' with the glasses, sweater vests, acne etc. Instead, he is confident, cool and stylish. This goes against the stereotypical idea of people in education. He looks neats, tidy and well-kept. All these things would be in favour for a college magazine. The model's outfit or the way he is posing is not sexually provocative and would not be a cause for concern in an education institution.

The fact that the model is holding texts books immediately shouts out 'education'. When people take a closer look and see that one of the text books is titled 'laws, business and society' it confirms that education is someway involved. The way that the model is holding the books and poses shows that he is motivated with his education & is pro-college.

Introduction to my blog :)

My name is Moyo Jubrill, I'm an AS media studies student and the purpose of this blog is to record my media coursework over the next few months. AT this point I have been asked to make a college magazine and contents page.