Construction process of

my music magazine.

Craig Noureya

‘The World’s Greatest’

1) In what ways does your media product, use, develop and

challenge forms and conventions of a real music magazine?

The top image is the front cover of my magazine which is called Xquizit, and the picture below is one of a published music magazine in the same genre which is called Vibe. To begin, I followed the conventions of a regular music magazine by placing my masthead in the centre of the page at the top. The image itself is a long shot, which goes against the usual conventions, as music magazine images are normally a mid shot or a close up. I placed the models head in front of the masthead which is similar to the Vibe magazine and I think that it gives the magazine an authentic effect. My magazine follows a colour scheme which is red, blue and white. By doing this I think I have gave my magazine a professional look and a unique identity. The Vibe magazine also follows a colour scheme which emphasises this point and portrays it as a modern hip hop/ R&B music magazine. I made the model pose in a certain way, which is one of shock and disbelief. Even though this doesn’t follow the conventions of a hip hop magazine as they usually pose in a way of arrogance and attitude, I feel that it fits perfectly with the DPS article as it expresses her surprise of her new found fame. The cover lines are very simple as they are not too wordy and they are also very big and clear so it’s easy to read. However I Feel that to improve this piece I could add more text to fill up the page more, like what the Vibe magazine have done. The date, price and barcode of my magazine all follow the conventions of a music magazine as the date is at the top in the corner and the prices are on either sides at the bottom of the page.

The image on the left is my final version of my contents page and on the right is an image of a Vibe contents page. I feel that my contents page follows most of the conventions of a hip hop music magazine. My model is standing holding the cover of a cd. I feel that this pose is evidentially unique and makes my magazine contents page stand out. The vibe magazine contents is very similar to mine as the model is standing on the left hand side with the text placed on the right. I didn’t use any text boxes on my contents page, because I didn’t think they were necessary as my magazine is very limited for text so it doesn’t need writing to be differentiated. Both the images of the magazines have been taken from a long shot. I feel this is another typical convention of a magazine for a contents page. The text itself has a colour scheme of red, black and blue! This was an intended scheme as it matches the front cover and DPS and also the clothes the model is wearing as you can see. This is one of the key conventions of hip hop magazine and you can see this with the vibe magazine as the colour scheme is red, black and grey. Lastly, my contents page includes an editors letter in the top left hand. This is a common feature in a music magazine. The editors letter describes a brief summary of the magazines content and what people can expect to get in future magazines.

This is my DPS. To construct it I followed most of the conventions of a music magazine’s DPS. I put my title at the top running through both pages, which is a key feature of most music magazine. I also used a sub heading which gives you a

brief insight into what the magazine article will be about . I continued with my red blue and white colour scheme to construct my DPS which is shows that my 3 pieces belong together. The text itself is in question answer format with the interviewee which is yet another convention followed. However unlike most DPS’s of a music magazine I only used one picture. This was because I felt that the picture was eye catching enough and engaging enough that I didn’t need to fill the DPS with images. The caption underneath the image matches, the image used and I think this makes it look more professional and well thought out. I think to improve my DPS I could add grey text boxes behind the text,. This would

make it look less plain and match my front and contents page.

2) How does your media product

represent particular social groups?

• I feel that my media product representsa particular social groups, as it istargeted at those of a certain age andsocial status. The age group is around 15-19. I felt this would be the best agegroup to target as I myself fall into thisbracket and I feel that I know whatteenagers this age are into when itcomes to music. I tried to make mygenre one that would fill the majority ofthis age groups needs and this isreflected by my choice of making it a hiphop/ R&B genre based magazine. Eventhough I myself am not a massive fan ofthis music, I understand why manyteenagers are interested in it, so I feltthat it would be possible for me toconvey this through my magazineconstruction. The social status of thosethat would purchase my magazine,would be those who are students atschool and entering further education.This means that the vast amount ofthese people, would not have a lot ofmoney to spend on luxuries such asmagazines, so I have made the price of

the magazine £2.50 which I think is areasonable price for a weekly musicmagazine. The artists I chose to featureon the contents page of my musicmagazine are all in the genre of hiphop/R&B. I felt that this was crucial if mymusic magazine was going to looklegitimate and match my social groups.My DPS article also mentions some ofthese artists in the contents page andagain this gives it creditability and helpsboth parts of the construction to linkwell together. The front cover of mymagazine portrays my social group verywell. This is mainly because of the imageused as it is of a teenager who is anartist in this genre of music. Thisconsolidates the three constructionpieces and shows that they all belongtogether in one magazine. The imagepresented below is the one I chose touse as my front cover image as itconveys a shy teenager which reflectsmy social group who has become asuperstar at the age of 18 which reflectsthe age frequency of my social group.

The clothes my model is wearing in thepicture, reflects on the style that is wornby many teenagers in this social group.She is wearing fashion glasses, which areworn by many teenage girls and portraya quirky side. Also the branded t-shirtshe is wearing is also in fashion and isworn by both girls and boys. Her blueshorts she is wearing are usually worn

Profile of my audience!

• Young• Trendy• Individual• Enjoy R&B• Enjoy Hip Hop • Use Social Networking sites so that

they can keep up with the magazine over Twitter for new trends, Facebook for information about website and Tumblr for latest photo shots.

3) What kind of media institution might

distribute your media product and why?

I feel that the kind of institution that might distribute my media product would be a superstore such as Tesco and Asda. This is because both of these supermarkets sell a wide range of magazines which include music magazines and I feel that this hip/R&B genre of magazine would be perfect for there shelves as it would sell well to the younger generation .

I also think that in future, I would like to set up a webzine. This is because I feel this is the way forward for music magazines, as people are willing to spend less and less on purchasing magazines and my targeted audience grew up in the convergence of web 2.0, which has allowed people to access media over the internet.

Example of webzine.

4) Who would be the audience for your

media product?

• All my 3 pieces during my construction process match all my targets. The magazine’s audience is young students in the C1-E demographic. This is because the music which is featured in the magazine is very modern and is popular with those aged around 15-19. The price of the magazine also reflects this as students don’t have much money, so

they will only buy the magazine if they consider it to be cheap. The Maslow of this magazine is definitely belonging as it is for those who are interested in a specific type of music genre which is hip hop/R&B. To help me

discover the audience for my magazine, I made a questionnaire featuring ten questions such as, ‘what is your favourite genre of music,’ and gave thirty out to different individuals of different ages to fill out. The overwhelming response was hip hop and R&B so this helped me in my decision to make it a joint hip hop/R&B music magazine like many others. The magazine is for those of both male and female gender as most of the music is unisex. This is very important as it means it will sell more because male and females are able to purchase it. After the results of

my questionnaire I was never tempted to change the audience as I knew this would be the best age range and genre to design my magazine article. I found it very easy to design a main theme for the magazine, because I to fit in the age bracket and I have a good idea of what the genre of music consist of and which artist are considered the

archetypes of the genre.

5) How did you attract/address

your audience?

I attracted my audience through the use of images, colour, interviews, posters and artists. The image I used was very eye catching and ran through the centre of the page. The colours, were bright and had been manipulated to make them stand out. I also used an interview with the artist/model which would be appealing to the magazines audience as she is in their age group and was in their social status before she became famous. This would make them want to read my DPS as the story may relate to them and inspire them to be like her. On the contents page, I included a page which featured the main artists, posters and this would engage the audience as it was a poster that they could use and show their friends. Lastly on the contents page, it informed the buyers that there would be artists featured in the magazine that they may well be interested in hearing about if they are fans of them.

Artist named on front cover and contents page all relatively in the same genre!

Ed Sheeran The Script

YungenRizzle Kicks

6) What have you learnt about technologies from

the process of constructing this product?

• I have learnt a lot about different technology, through the use of youtube, prezi and wordpress. I used youtube at the start of my construction when I was planning my pieces and it was very useful to help me get the results of my questionnaire, It also helped me to watch videos of other peoples work to gain inspiration and ideas. Prezihelped me when designing the costume I wanted my model to wear during the shooting to find the correct image I wanted to use.

• I also manage to evaluate the image I wanted to use by the use of prezi and learnt different techniques on how to link all of it to my final piece. Finally I used wordpress to place everything that I have used, researched and evaluated for my piece during the construction. It gave me an understanding of what I had to do and also helped me by being able too access other peoples work through the wordpress. My peers also gave me critiques and positive feedback through the use of wordpress.

7) Looking back at your preliminary task, what do

you feel you have learnt in the progression from

it to the full product?

• I feel that I have come a long way since my preliminary task. I have learnt all the basic techniques of photo shopping and some of the more skilled techniques, which have come in handy when designing my final pieces. I feel that experimenting with different parts of media has helped me to make a good basis of a music magazine, even though there are things which still need to be learnt. I have learnt how to manipulate images and also how to manipulate text so it looks professional. To create my DPS I had to learn how to use in design so that I could structure my text in a way that is suitable for a music magazine. This has once again showed the huge development from my preliminary task.

These two images show the contrast and development from my preliminary task (on the left) to my final front cover piece (on the

right)!

Use of spotlight on background

Use of drop shadow on text over Masthead

and models hair

Plain boring textPoor manipulation of

picture

On the left is my preliminary contents page and on the right is my final contents page!

This is very simple, with a poor photo shopped image. The writing has not been manipulated and the page is very empty. The colours are also very dull.

This is a much improved contents page, it is full of information with bold eye catching text. The image has been cut around to give it a nice crisp edge finish. Issue number is include which gives it a proffesional touch.

DPS Analysis

Caption matches face pose

Enlarged quote follows conventions

of music magazine

Masthead through both pages, typical convention of

a DPS.

Website in top corner .

Page numbers at bottom in the

corner, regular convention

Subheading informing people what the article will consist of.

Manipulation of photo

• This is a manipulation on Photoshop. I made her skin paler, so that it would match the light/grey background on my front cover and contents page. The pose she is doing is one of shock and confusion which matches the pose of the front cover and also the caption I wrote on my DPS.