Evaluation

Evaluation: Foundation Portfolio

Introduction

For my media coursework I decided to make a music magazine based on the music sub-genre Hip-Hop. I worked on my own and made all the contributions to my project myself; the research and planning, the preliminary task, the photographs, the text for each page including my main article and also the editing and design of my magazine.

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

The genre of my music magazine is Hip-Hop and I used different key conventions to show this, along with the typical conventions that all magazines include. I used a title, a main image, feature headings, a barcode, date and price to make my magazine seem as realistic as possible. My title was a large, bold, graffiti font in a bright, red colour used in order to attract the readers attention.  I edited my main photo - making the brick wall background black and white and my Hip-Hop artist in colour, also to make it stand out and seem as though this new artist on the scene is the only colour in the world. I used a graffiti font instead of the usual sans-serif fonts that most Hip-Hop magazines use for their titles. I believe that my title complements the main photo as it is against a brick wall background - one of the most popular places where graffiti is seen. Also, I think that the originality of using a different style of font for my title will attract the readers because my magazine is giving them something that others don’t. I chose the colour scheme red/black/white as it is very common with Hip-Hop magazines, such as ‘The Source‘, ‘XXL‘ and ‘Hip-Hop Connection‘. Although I wanted to do something different with my magazine, I believed that sticking to certain typical elements/conventions of the Hip-Hop genre, would ensure that my magazine appealed to my main target audience - genre needs to be a mix of familiar and new in order to remain vibrant. I think that my innovations proved successful with my target audience, as the feedback I received showed that the colour and font of my title helped it to stand out, and my reader’s attention was drawn to it because of the originality. My contents page and double page spread both stuck to the same colour scheme so that the reader could notice the continuity of my house style magazine. The pictures were bright in colour and my sans-serif font stood out, as well as being easy to read. My contents page included the title, date and the website for the magazine,  along with the feature article picture and its page reference number. My articles are written in order of the page reference numbers,  as it is a generic feature in all magazines, and so that the reader isn’t confused and knows where to find the article that they are looking for. It also includes an editor’s note, with a signature, to give the magazine a personal, friendly touch and to make the reader feel more involved with the magazine. My double page spread includes the title in a bold, sans serif font, an introduction to my Hip-Hop artist and the interview, another large picture of my artist along with his tour dates. My interview includes detail about my Hip-Hop artist and he answers questions, about his body language, facial expressions and the way he treats our staff. I also included quotes from what my Hip-Hop artist had said in order to make my double page spread look as realistic as possible, and to intrigue the reader and draw them in.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The main social groups that my magazine represents are mainly young adult, male music artists. I wasn’t specifically representing ‘criminals’ but most Hip-Hop artists do have a criminal past or involvements with crime. The costume used in my front cover and contents page is formal clothing  - used to make my artist look serious and sophisticated rather than a young student. Many Hip-Hop artists are seen wearing overly-large t-shirts and jeans instead of shirts and ties. However, my artist is seen wearing a t-shirt in the double page spread picture in order to represent that although he is sophisticated, he is still on the same level as the readers of this magazine and of his fans. The poses of my artist show that he is relaxed and comfortable,  and the brick wall background shows that my artist is a regular, ordinary person; I believe that it shows he isn’t arrogant about his fame and fortune, and not showing off his money. The dark background shown on my double page spread picture represents the bad/negative side towards the Hip-Hop industry, however my artist isn’t shown on any of the photographs in low-key lighting, suggesting that Hip-Hop might not be what people think it is - a music genre involved with crime and ‘crude’ language etc. Moreover, the language/dialect in my interview such as: “man I really can’t believe it”, reinstates the fact that my artist is an average person that my magazine’s audience, and his fans, can relate to. I believe that my magazine represents these social groups well, as I used stereotypes that are commonly shown in the media, and are easy to understand.

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

Dennis S. Page is the publisher of XXL magazine, a Hip-Hop magazine similar to my own media project. I believe that he would fund my magazine as it has similar features to XXL. The colour scheme of red/black/white appears to be popular with the XXL magazine - something I used with my magazine, and also the use of little writing on the front cover in order to show the artist. However, XXL magazine has their Hip-Hop artists dressed in an informal way, showing a difference towards my artist being dressed in a shirt and tie. I think that this may be likely to make a profit as it is not commonly seen within Hip-Hop magazines.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for my magazine would be mainly males aged between 16-25, of a UK or African/American ethnic origin. Their socio-economic status would be D/E and they would be interested in the Hip-Hop/Rap genre, and possibly in joining the music industry themselves - big lovers of music. I believe that this is a good audience to target as I think they would be interested in my magazine. It contains all the latest Hip-Hop ‘gossip’ - very suitable for fans who want to be the first to know everything. It would be a niche audience as I don’t think that Rock or Soul fans would be too interested in reading about Hip-Hop. However, my magazine might also attract R&B fans, and maybe even women, if the front cover was a female artist, or if they saw the male artist as ‘objects of desire’. I think that this audience would be right for my product financially as fans of this genre would be loyal towards reading about it, and also a magazine would be more suitable for a younger audience to read as they have a more disposable income. My audience feedback showed that I gained a positive reaction from people interested in Hip-Hop and Rap music - my target audience- , but not so from people interested in Rock.

How did you attract/address your audience?

I think that the choice of my title ‘holla!’ would attract my target audience because it is a common greeting word used within gangsters - people mainly associated with Hip-Hop. The photo on my front cover has been edited to make the artist stand out from the background, his pose is relaxed and laid-back, and he is stood against a brick wall  - showing that he is not arrogant and his fans can relate to him. My artist is wearing a red shirt and black tie in order for it to complement my colour scheme. I used colloquial, Hip-Hop terms on my front cover such as ‘bad blood’ and ‘shizzle’ so that my readers can relate to it as they probably use this type of language in normal, everyday conversations. Also, the use of famous rappers in my storylines mean that the readers know what and who the articles are going to be about - they will have heard of these artists before and will be intrigued to know all of the ‘gossip’. The language in my editor’s note is formal, so that it is taken seriously, though the signature gives a personal touch. However, there isn’t much written about the contents of my magazine so not much is given away, making the reader want to read my magazine. The articles on my contents page are written in the same font used on my front cover, and the colloquial language is used again, showing continuity as to not confuse the reader: “beef”, “swagger” and “fly”. I think that the layout of my double page spread is easy to follow as it is set in columns, just like most magazines. The white title (and text in the interview) juxtaposes with the black background making it stand out, and the contrast between the red questions and white answers in the interview means that it is easy to distinguish one from the other. Also, the orange/golden coloured font is taken from the picture on my double page spread to slightly break up the red/white/black colour scheme, and also to include the photo. The only edits I made to my double page spread photograph was to crop it to size. I didn’t feel the need to edit this photo as I believed the streetlights and car lights in the background had a good, urban effect already.

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

I had never made a blog before doing this media coursework and I found it easy to do after learning the basics. I was able to upload my research that I had found from the internet and from existing products, and also upload my images (preliminary task). By choosing to make a magazine for this coursework I’ve had to use DTP, including Photoshop and InDesign. I thought that the preliminary task allowed me to introduce myself to these programmes and to allow experiments, though when designing my final piece I was still learning new things. I enjoyed using these programmes to edit my photographs and set up my layout for my magazine. I had to alter my front cover photograph when editing as I realised after I’d cut it out that it was too small, but it didn’t take too long and it was soon sorted out. Also, when taking my pictures I used different camera angles and lighting - learnt in my lessons - in order to change the effect that they would have on the reader, as the image is just as important as the text.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

I think that my final product is a lot better than my preliminary task. Having had the experience with the programmes and more time to make my magazine, I believe I did much better. The photo on my preliminary task is blurry, compared to the more interesting photos on my final product where I used the knowledge of cinematography, and also my time, to make them look as good as possible. My title, font and language is much more suitable on my final product for my genre, than it was on my preliminary task. Also, I believe that my layout is easier to understand and less boring, and my use of a stark colour scheme was effective to portray my genre.

Conclusion

I’m proud of my final product and believe that it would be suitable for readers with an interest in Hip-Hop music. I think its key strengths are the editing of the one photograph used on my front cover, as it is eye-catching and not something that I have seen on a magazine before. Also, I think that the sans-serif font I used is suitable for this genre and the black and white is simple and common, but easy to read. The use of Hip-Hop vocabulary would attract my target audience, along with the articles on my front page. However, I think that the weaknesses of my magazine would be the lack of pictures, and also the lack of articles on the contents page. If I had more time I would have liked to add more pictures, and more articles, to my magazine. I do think that my magazine looks reasonably realistic having given only a few weeks to create it, and believe that it comes quite close to the real article. It’s something I would consider buying.