Evaluation...

My media product uses and has developed upon exiting music magazines that use the same sort of conventions and because my magazine focuses mainly on RnB and Hip Hop music 'BREAKIN'BEAT', would be considered a niche magazine. For the genre of my music magazine, (RnB/Hip Hop) I had to make sure that I had a strong image that shows it focuses particularly on RnB/Hip Hop style music and not just any sort of music. I also had to consider a suitable costume and setting (Mise-en-scene), e.g. On the front cover of my magazine, for the Mise-en-scene, I have used a graffiti background and costume which may be considered a 'chavy'(hard, tough, individual...) look but girly at the same time, so this could perhaps challenge the female role in society... (in this case I am specifically referring to my Double Page Spread) and (on my front page cover) I have used a long top that exposes the top part of the models back with a tattoo reading, 'Attitude'. This costume could connote that the model has attitude but at the same time is seen as a sexy artist. This is generally the stereotype of a music artist who creates RnB and/or Hip Hop music. To entice my audience, I added a strap-line above my masthead (title of my magazine.) The strapline just simply reads; 'Bringing to you complete RnB and Hip Hop sound'.

My new music magazine represents a social group of 15-25 year olds in particular, girls who live around busy cities or towns, who have a middle to high annual income and who are creative and have plenty of attitude! I have tried to represent my social group through my use of Mode of Address through the type of language used. although I have used normal conventions for a magazine, e.g. barcode, tiltle etc, I wanted to subvert it as a music magazine in a slight way. I acheived this through the Genre of my Magazine and the slang language of the Magazine Title..

The kind of Media Institution that might distribute my Media could be many different places, For Example;
*Newsagents
*Shops, e.g. W.H.Smiths,
*Food shops, e.g. Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda
*Interactive online services, e.g. Facebook- perhaps have an online version of the magazine to target a wider audience.
*The Internet in general-For advertisement purposes.
*Could also be advertised at gigs/Hip Hop or/and RnB events.
*In Competitions-Given freebie's/prizes of some sort of a subscription to the magazine...
Institutions would possibly want to sell my new Music magazine because I think there is a gap in the current market, particularly in the area's of RnB and Hip Hop music for teenagers.

I have stuck to my Target Audience, and to recap my Target Audience is as follows;
*Has to appeal to 15-25 year olds, particularly women.
*Focuses mainly on RnB and Hip Hop music.
*Has to be sold at a sensible price so that the reader can afford to but it...e.g. I must consider that people around the age of 15-25 are either at college, university or don't have a job.

Whilst doing this project for media, I have had my strengths and weaknesses. My weaknesses have been not knowing how to use different technologies and software, e.g. photoshop(software) and the iMac (technology). However, with support from fellow students, I have become more confident when using the iMac and the software photoshop. I have enjoyed being creative throughout the whole project, although i struggled at the beginning to grasp my Target audience. However, through many drafts of my front cover and with the help of a focus group looking at my work it helped me to produce a much better final piece, which i believe targets my audience now because I used the criticisms given and developed upon them.

Looking back at the preliminary task to create a front cover piece of a school magazine that would appeal to teenagers in sixth form, I learnt a lot from this task and it helped prepare me for what was in store for the main task. I have improved since and have taken into consideration that it has to appeal to your targeted audience otherwise it wont sell and therefore perhaps wont appeal to the audience wanted or intended.

In future, to improve on the time wasted on trying to market my audience, I need to thoroughly research the market and think off a suitable setting to use in order for it to appeal to my targeted audience.

My final pieces; Front cover, Double Page Spread and Contents Page...

Front Cover

By using the original image, (shown in the last post) on photoshop I then changed the image into a monochrome colour palette. I decided to use the font 'trashco', which I found on http://www.dafont.com/ for my mast head title of my magazine, 'Breakin Beat'. I then added a subtitle, ' bringing to you complete RnB/Hip Hop sound'. This subtitle tells the audience exactly what the genre of the magazine is and this would be a unique selling purpose to the magazine because it is selling exactly what it is.

I used this image because I think it quite a strong image and has the dominance factor of attitude and the factor of a bit of sexiness and riskiness (exposed back with black tattoo.) To make the image even stronger I made sure that the model was looking right into the audiences/viewers eyes or faces.

I decided to place the barcode in the right hand left, bottom corner because that is where the reader places there fingers in order to turn the page.

Contents Page...

With the contents page I decided to go for a plainer background than that of the front cover to create a contrast. However, I have incorporated colours from the front cover for the text, e.g. blue and pink text.
For the subtitles I have used '28 days later' font ('exclusive interview'...'top 10'...latest lyrics', etc). The explanations of the subtitle's are in a close grafitti style font called, 'Jadefedga (80)' For the font used for the 'Features' 'In this issue only' and 'Weekly usuals' I have used the same font as that used on the front cover (Jadefedga (8002)), so both the contents page and front cover can connect.

I have used two columns because it splits the page in half. I have also titled the different areas of the magazine and its contents in three different areas, e.g. weekly usuals, in this issue only, features.

Double Page Spreads...

I have used this original image for the left hand side of my double page spread because I think it is a strong image as it connotes dominance and authority through the use of facial expression and the pose. I think the camera angle may have added emphasis aswell because it is almost a low angle point of shot, which adds to the dominance and authority. I have used a see through mast head for the title, 'EXCLUSIVE INTERVEIW'. I think this is a great effect because it makes the text stand out but at the same time you can still see the image behind.

On the right side of my double page spread I have chosen to introduce the cover model/'Hip Hop legend, Rihanna Kai.' I then go into an interview style of writing, for example; I have questions that are then answered.

The process of my front cover....

I decided to use the following picture for my front cover image; I monochromed it and enhanced it on photoshop so that the person in the image stood out and so that the grafitti in the background did not fade away to much. (The image below is the original image.)

New original photos

These pictures that I took were inspired by the images that I found on google which I have shown in a previous post.

{ I used a low angle shot here and this would work particularly well if I wanted to show importance and dominance.

Facial expression, costume (bling!!!) and the pose must be considered when making an image and magazine type correspond.

{ This is a picture (to the left) of the background I created on a brick wall. I wanted to create a graffiti looking background to emphasise the attitude factor.

The 'RK' initial that is drawn along with the graffiti art and it is the artists initials and therefore the front cover model, 'RIHANNA KAI'.

I used a Pink based costume because I wanted to show the artist has a feminine side as well as the contrasting attitude of that of a male.

It is also worth considering if you want the costume to complement the setting or whether you want it to contrast. With these images the model is wearing clothes that complement the setting (background graffiti)

what next?

Now that I have looked at current images that are to do with Hip Hop / RnB genre, I now need to make my very own original images that I can use for my front cover, contents and double-page spread on my new music magagzine.

I tried using a picture of me (shown below and with the examples of different fonts on blog before this post). I then changed it on photoshop to monochrome.

Original picture (to the left)

Original picture changed to monochrome (to the left)

However, when I started to apply text to it, I decided that it did not really look like a music magazine... so I decided to use different effects to see if it would change the appearence of the magazine and give it an attitude factor, that I was looking for.

These are the other effects that I tried out...

With this one, I tried manipulating the masthead to try and make it look original. I also decided to use a bright pink background so that it stood out.

Then I tried something different......

With this design I searched for a font on http://www.dafont.com/ and used a font called 'trashco'. I also used grafitti writting for the rest of the writing. (I also found these fonts on http://www.dafont.com/.)

However, the image itself still looked to innocent and did not have the attituide factor that a music magazine specifically needs. Therefore, I had to rethink my image and take some new original photos. Perhaps a background with bright colours of grafitti would suit it best. I have also got to think of the type of costume to use and the pose to use to show attitude. So that is what I did....

shown in the next post are all of my original photo's that I took, that will be manipulated and changed on photoshop when making my front cover/double page spread and contents page.

Finding an image that would best suit to be on the front page of my new Music Magazine..

Images searched on google-'RnB' 'Hip Hop' 'lady sovereign'

In order to find some images that would best suit my genre of my music magazine, I decided to look on Google images. I searched Hip Hop and RnB. From these images you can see they all have a sense of attitude and style. Therefore, I must ensure that my new Music Magazine has an image that has attitude and Style.

For Example; in the image of the girl below, she looks serious, flirty but there is something about her that makes her send of signals she has a negative side to her and that she is not all naive (attitude). You can also see from this image that there is style involved in the image. The style is what makes them sell themselves. Her blue top with black print stands out. She also has further emphasis of style through the use of the pink shades and the tie. The use of the shades connotes a deeper side to her because she is 'Hiding' a part of her face. Style can be shown in many other different ways, for example; hair style, clothes, make-up, set and props. Similarly, attitude can also be shown in many different ways, for example; facial expression, props and the way the person is posed.

Suitable fonts that i found on www.dafont.com, that i could possibly use for my final title of my new music magazine

Below is font 'BASE 05'. This font is an interesting font because it looks like it has been stitched. This effect gives it an unfinished messy effect.

{ This font is called '28 days later'. This one is similar to the one above in a way that it looks unfinished. It almost looks like someone has rubbed out the corners and bits inside the lettering.

The font above the bottom font, is called 'clubland' . I decided that this font would perhaps suit a music magazine that Marget's club/pop music rather than RnB/Hip Hop music because the LCD effect is usually associated with that genre of music. The font also has a reminiscence of a glass ball that reflects spot lights that are used for discos.

(bottom font) This is my favourite font out of all of the ones shown here. This font is called 'Trashco'. I like this one because it is fun, messy and original. Plus, I have not ever seen something like it. Therefore, I am considering using this font for my new music magazine front cover title because I think it will stand out from all the rest of the fonts used on other Music magazines.