Evaluation Of Coursework

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

My product is a Hip-Hop magazine which uses and challenges the conventions of other Hip-Hop magazines. It uses the convention of having a large masthead at the top centre of the page, I did this as I thought that most people will see it before anything else on the page, this is shown on magazines such as the Source magazine. I also used the convention of using the same or similar fonts throughout the pieces I created to link to the house style, and it maintains a style to help make my product unique and outstanding, compared to some other Hip-Hop magazines. Although using the same font throughout the pieces may make it dull for the readers, the words which they convey will keep them interested, as well as the images I have taken, and manipulated to help the readers to stay interested and excited.

I used the convention of having a male on the front cover, as Hip-Hop is a male-dominated field. This also may help to keep readers interested as it is a new face in the Hip-Hop scene and could encourage them to find out more about this new artist. I followed the convention of using a puff on the cover to make the piece stand out and draw readers in, as the text is difficult to read from a distance. This may also help to enlist new followers of the Hip-Hop scene to purchase a copy to see what is happening, and what might be available to win, as the puff usually tell the reader about a giveaway or competition they could enter. I used to convention of the use of thirds which is shown in the front cover, with the cover stories on the left third, the rapper’s face in the central third, and the puff and two other cover stories in the right third.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My magazine represents young males around the ages of 16-20 as high-status individuals. This is because of their status as ‘Soundcloud rappers’. My magazine also represents fans of rap/Hip-Hop music, and this is because without fans of Hip-Hop this style and type of magazine would not make profit, such magazines as The Source would not be around if there were no fans of rap.

What kind of media institution might distribute your product and why?

I think that my magazine would be published by the media conglomerate Townsquare Media because this institution publishes the Rap/Hip-Hop magazine XXL. XXL was founded in 1997. XXL is a parent company of Hip-Hop Soul, Shade45 and Eye-Candy, however, XXL is a subsidiary too, as it is owned by Townsquare Media. XXL also maintains a very popular website in which they report on all news in the Hip-Hop industry, which shows that Townsquare know how to maintain an ol-line presence and internet brand which can benefit my magazine by advertising it on their social media accounts and websites. I think that Townsquare would publish and distribute my magazine because they are known for publishing a wide variety of publications.

Townsquare even have years of experience and precious knowledge on publishing and distribution. Although they already publish XXL, I am of the opinion that through adding my magazine to their portfolio the company could access a wider audience for my magazine as well as XXL.
Readers whom have a strong passion and interest for Hip-Hop will definitely stick to that genre, and so if the audience find my magazine as well as mine, it will surely cause them to buy a copy of each magazine to get as much possible information on new mix-tapes or albums. The audience may also buy a copy of each magazine so that they can see a difference in opinion on a new tape, and compare it to their own in order to see if they agree with what the magazines say.

Who would be the audience for your product?

The mass audience for my media product would be 16-18 year old males. This is because the data from my questionnaire shows that most people aged 16-18 listen to Hip-Hop/rap music.

The higher ages are irrelevant as they make up a minority of the data, and are merely outliers in the data.

Due to the fact that rap/Hip-Hop was the most popular, I must assume that the most common ages (16-18) voted for it. My target audience is anyone who is a big fan or enthusiast of rap, but mostly younger people aged 16-18, as the language used within the magazine will be easier to understand for this group of people, because these people will be up to date with new language relating to the genre. Male readers will be attracted to the magazine because the cover stories talk about rappers/artists who they may not have heard of, and will become intrigued and buy a copy to find out about them. Male and female readers may also be attracted to it because of the colours used. The colours are mostly red and blue, which are bright and will catch people’s eye, and draw them in to read about the cover stories, or win the prize mentioned in the bright red puff.

How did you attract/address your audience?

I attracted my audience using bright colours on the front cover, such as red and blue. The red puff is a slightly brighter shade of red compared to the other shade used in order to attract the audience and get them to read on. Once they have been attracted by the puff the cover stories will draw them in further, as there are some artists mentioned that they may not have heard of such as ‘Ski Mask The Slump God’ or ‘Oliver’.

The other cover stories titled ‘DRAKE’ and ‘LIL UZI’ will draw in a wider range of readers as these two artists are very well known in the rap scene, and are both always working on new music for their fans. The fact that they are working on new music makes readers want to know about it (when it will be released etc) which means they will buy a copy to find out if or when there will be new music from these artists.

I also used the conventional layout of a rap magazine as shown above with the ‘Source’ cover example. The big masthead at the top centre of the page will attract my target audience as they will be aware of what ‘Iced Out’ traditionally means.

What have you learned about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Before starting this product, I already had an extensive knowledge of the Adobe Photoshop software I used to create it. This made it quite easy to produce the final product and everything leading up to it, including the mood board, draft pieces, baseline pieces, and other products which may have required the use of Photoshop.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you think you have learned in the progression from it to your final product?

From my first preliminary pieces, I think that I have developed a vision for a new Hip-Hop magazine style icon. I have learned the conventions of magazines and how to apply, and challenge these conventions. I have learned to take a professional photo-shoot in order to pick a final image to use for each part of my final piece.