IN WHAT WAYS DOES

YOU MEDIA PRODUCT

USE, DEVOLOP OR

CHALLENGE FORMS AND

CONVENTIONS OF REAL

MEDIA PRODCUTS?

EVALUTION 1

HIP HOP CONVENTION

Conventions Of Hip Hop pt.1

• Hip Pop was once about dominance, but in doing so due to the growth of the urban culture Hip Hop has gravitated towards fashion as a way to show of their wealth. A lot of Artists past the year 2000 have been following the fashion trends and now Hip Hop artists are seen setting the benchmark in fashion. This is because the target audience are young teens, who are insecure of appearance so they feel acceptance when they wear items worn by their favourite artists, thus losing there individuality. An Example would be Kanye West who’s clothing line is sold out in Hours making his items coveted. This shows the integration of Hip Hop artists into the Fashion Industry. Making the attire more mainstream. This can refer to the attitude that the Hip Hop artist who, portray a gritty persona, and a lot of it refers to gang life in the “ghetto”. The fashion and the persona they portray have merged together, and they use fashion to connote their attitude. As Hip Hop fashion has now become the face of Urban fashion. The use of Jewellery is very distinct among artists, and it connotes the materialistic goals that rappers have as well as connoting the need of power among Men, as Hip Hop is a genre that is dominated by Male artists.

Conventions Of Hip Hop pt.2

• The Main Audience is generally Males, who often desire power, as they read and listen to the content of Hip Hop to posses male dominance over females. They are attracted to read Hip Hop magazines as the Hip Hop industry is dominated by Male’s therefore they feel they can relate more to the artist and strive to become them (Personal identity Blumler and Kat’z uses and gratification)

• Female artists are portrayed to be attractive, as the clothes they wear are provocative, it puts them in the Male gaze (James Winship’s Notion of Complicity), example would be Nicki Minaj. The lyrics that are used are often by females are about romance and the feeling of helplessness. It supports the idea of patriarchal dominance in Hip Hop, showing how inferior woman are to men. On The other hand it can be said that the females of Hip Hop now have a voice as more people listen to their music, so it creates more attention for them and a wider audience. It also creates a hegemonic effect as a female rapper can essentially have the skills to rap but they would have to put themselves in the Male gaze to attract more attention.

Conventions Of Hip Hop pt.3

• This is because a lot of rappers come from poorer background therefore they often use Rap to voice out their feelings. That is why the Lyrics are often aggressive and violent. As Hip Hop was originally used for people to vent their angers, there is a cross path between gang activity and Hip Hop. Due to the background of these Rappers they tend to be involved in Gang activity, for example The Game who refers to himself as a Blood. Therefore the lyrics contain violence or even talk about Drugs. On the other hand Rappers also rap about the success they have had coming from where they come from hence they have an arrogant persona, this narrative is the “rags to riches”, this often becomes an incentive for children to rap, to have a better life as they go from poor to rich in a very quick transition. All of this indicated ideologies of struggle.

Conventions of Hip Hop pt.4

• Male artists are conveyed as aggressive and dominant (due to the music being in aggressive tone). Females on the other hand are portrayed as weak and helpless supporting the idea of patriarchal dominance.

• The promotion of Hip Hop is done via social media and clubs. Hip Hop is not heard in popular radio stations because the lyrics tend to be explicit hence it would not be suitable for mass audience. Although there are radio stations such as AKA that plays Hip Hop music but it is a small station compared to Radio 1.

Convention of Hip Hop pt.5

• In terms of creating musical content, Hip Hop tends to create the current trends. It goes to show how people look up to the artists.

• Hip Hop music videos are commonly done without animation. Which makes the video attractive and appealing to watch, because Hip Hop has a more mature audience, as well as they can feel a better connection with the audience. The convention of Hip Hop leads to a false verisimilitude of wealth. As they emphasize a rappers success, creating false images to an audience. Another convention is by sexualizing women (Mulvey’s Male Gaze) as the females are put in their eyes and are sexualized, emphasizing the patriarchal dominance.

CONVENTIONS OF HIP HOP MAGAZINE

• Hip Hop magazines tend to sexualize women in the magazines as the genre is dominated by mature male viewers. That is due to Hip Hop audiences being Unsophisticated. I rejected this convention, as my main goal was to challenge the convention that Hip Hop was for unsophisticated audiences and create a suitable content for sophisticated audiences to enjoy. Hip Hop magazine’s tend to be more independent but I rejected the convention and used synergy marketing between Complex Magazine to offer exclusive albums with every magazine. Digital online distribution is also a large factor within the genres of Hip Hop as the audience tend to be Digital Natives and use Web 2.0. Due to them being so exposed to the web 2.0 they are use to luxuries of ways to get content free, which is why Synergy Marketing, digital online distribution and Web 2.0 was an important factor in the magazine (not to mention Towsqaure Media like to use Web 2.0 e.g XXL)

• Due to the dominance of men within the genre I accepted this convention and decided not to add in females. I went against the convention that all the Artists are dominant and successful, I went against this by using mis en scène to connote how reality really is as an artist. Hence I had them wear very jewelry. Although I did make them look like they struggled which follows the convention that the Rappers struggled. As my audience was strivers (VAL) and Struggler (Young and Rubican) therefore they could connect more with artist.

• Therefore in my magazine I only used males, as conventionally they are appropriate.

Conventions of Front Page

• A front page of a magazine is meant to attract the audience as well as to summaries the main articles within the magazines. It should grab the attention of audience and make them want to read the magazine.

Front Cover• My magazine successfully was able to integrate the cover lines and the

content within the Content page. I followed this throughout the production as, as a Magazine I am not allowed to advertise false content.

• The focal image of the artist, was relevant to the Hip Hop industry, therefore it was relevant to the target audience. The artist was of interest to the target audience, and was supported by the main cover line (splash) and by the use of rule of thirds I used it to become the main focus of the reader.

• The barcode tends to be on the bottom row of the magazine, but I went against this during my final draft and moved it to the top under the masthead because it fit better. Although I did follow the convention of adding the price of the magazine as well as the month of the issue.

• Hip Hop magazine do not usually have slogan on the masthead, I decided to go against this convention and add it as I felt it gave the reader a better purpose to buy it. The slogan connotes that the magazine is about exposing reality to young people who have been conveyed a false verisimilitude. To represent Hip Hop from the roots of how it started and how they can influence generations. Although by adding a slogan I followed a general magazine convention by putting into the masthead.

• The use of size of typography is an important factor in magazine, I accepted this and made sure the main cover lines were well sized so it is in the view of the audience. I felt for the Main Cover line I could’ve made the font size bigger as I felt it should be that way as it is them focal article.

• The Pull Quotes are a feature in Hip Hop magazine, I followed this, because it gave a better insight on the artist and provided personal identity.

• The Front cover consisted of 1 image. I have accepted this and only used one, as it helps fox thinkers concentrate on the main headline better.

• I feel for the Kareem and Glock articles I should've wrote Exclusive interview, but I couldn’t because It didn’t fit well enough.

• The masthead is conventional in all magazines and is essential because it allows the audience to recognize a magazine. I placed my masthead on the Left hand side, which is going against the convention of a Hip Hop magazine. As usually the mast head extends on the top to reach both sides, as it connotes the dominance of Hip Hop and represents the rebellious action towards the police as it is powerful and stands out.

• The masthead has to eye catching and stand out against the background of the magazine. I accepted this convention, and therefore used the color red and White. To connote the Genre being Hip Hop, as well as the fact the Red was the most popular color for males. The red connotes the gang violence in Hip Hop and the white connotes neutrality for the oppression against black people. I felt the light between the “O” in “OPASSO” could have been more symmetrical with a lighter opacity as it was strong and it didn’t look as aesthetically pleasing. This is a common house style for Hip Hop magazines as it becomes an indicator for fox thinkers to identify that it is Hip Hop magazine.

• I saw the Typography of the masthead of all the Hip Hop magazines and saw that they were all sharp sided. Therefore I followed this by having a sharp font. This is suitable for more mature male audiences. As from my Audience Report this one was the most popular typography for the masthead.

• The Font was simple, in white text for it to stand out. The simplicity appeals to fox thinkers as it is not overwhelming. The simplicity represents the cross of Hip Hop and American sports. A lot of rappers tend to be athletes, it connotes the unsophistication and the competiveness of Hip Hop. It also connotes the urban American roots of the genre.

• I used bold fonts on every cover line and made sure they were distinct from each other, and used different font to indicate which was more important. Although I felt I could have done this better. As I felt it wasn’t distinct enough.

• The color scheme was Black and white for the cover lines, it made it stand out and Black and white tend to be neutral colors that most magazine use. I used this as it could be seen. The color scheme showed maturity to my audience. I wanted to use red, but because I had a red background I couldn’t use it. I thought about using Blue but because it didn’t follow the convention of Hip Hop I felt it didn’t look right.

• The cover lines were engaging and I made sure that it related to the interest of the audience. Following the convention of a magazine. I knew which cover lines were engaging as it was asked in my questionnaire, as the one I conducted was done on popularity to please my audience.

• In Hip Hop Magazines, they do not usually have many Cover lines, because I was going against the ideology that all Hip Hop audiences are unsophisticated I added more than the convention to attract sophisticated audiences and go against the convention.

• The image of the Artist was relevant to my audience who were strivers, because the story gave an insight of the ups and downs of Hip Hop. The conventional method is normally for the artist to directly address the audience as Hip Hop artist are confident. We broke the convention by having the artist shy as it worked better as he is an artist that failed.

• For the background I had a dark red background. It was conventional as it was relatable to Hip Hop connoting violence etc. Although I felt in terms of viewing it in the audience’s eyes, I felt that it didn’t look as realistic as it would in real magazines.

• My choice of the model was quite specific. I wanted to make sure that he was relatable in Hip Hop. He represented a established artist that fell. He was suitable as strivers would want mirror his type of career. I wanted to portray it in a negative manner. As I wanted to send a message. As there is a common ideology sent out by the convention of Rappers wearing Jewelry that “Life is amazing”. I wanted to show as good as it can get, its not promised. I made sure he had tattoos to connote a better stories of what he's been through. It follows the conventional idea that all Rappers look like thugs, but having him with his tank top is him revealing himself, to provide that personal connection.

Conventions of Content Page

• Content page has to inform the reader what each page has. The content page can also give a brief detail for what the Audience will expect at each page. A content page tends to priorities articles through a choice of featured images. This is often used to compliment the image, that acts as a visual image for the audience so they know what they are reading.

• The normal Convention of the content page is to have 1 image. However I went against this convention and had 3 images of Artists/Model instead. The 3 images of the artists connoted that anyone can be rapper in a predominantly black genre, representing the growing number of different ethnicities in rap., challenging the representation that Hip Hop is a black only genre.. I went against this convention, because it made my magazine a more unique and it provided an entertainment value (Blumler and Katz uses and Gratification).

• The images have a caption, I followed this convention to inform the reader about which artist was who. I felt I could’ve spaced out the caption better, but because space was limited I had to put it in open space. But I fit every caption to each image, that was relatively close to the image so it could be relatable.

• The sub headings next to the page numbers was there to provide the reader idea to what content is featured in the magazine. The page numbers next to the sub headings are used, to show what page is for each content. I made these significant by using a different font for the sub headings and for the page number.

• I developed the sub headings and gave a brief summary, that was kept formal but it was interactive to my audience. This was unconventional, as descriptions tend to be informal or they are only used for the cover lines. I described every sub heading, I went against this convention as my audience are sophisticated, therefore they would find joy in knowing what they are reading.

• I had a problem initially with my subheadings as I used to many fonts and different styles of typography e.g. Italics. Initially I thought having a different font for a different subject e.g. Cover line and artist, would help sort and help the audience identify what was what. I changed the font to a more constant font to Jersey M54 and Baskerville. I felt that it looked more proffessional and having less style of fonts looked less overwhelming and obviously having fox thinkers it look less complex to them. I felt that when I say it, it made me reflect on a tip that I saw on the importance of simplicity in a magazine and, I felt that it helped me learn a lot.

• I had the Magazine logo and the magazine name in the content page as it was conventional to put this in. As well as it raised my brand awareness.

• The images in the front cover and content page has to be relevant to the cover lines, including the type of context inside the magazine.

• It’s important to get public figures that the audience can relate to. As they can address their audience, which will grab their attention.

• Three models I used were King O, Kenzo and Kareem. They were used because they were the best fit to the ideal artists. (NOTE: I only used males because I accepted the convention, that Hip Hop was dominated by males).

• King O, was relevant to Hip Hop fans, because he represented a Rap Legend. It was relevant to the less sophisticated audiences, the Explorers, because they do not follow the mainstream values, therefore to my audience he stays relevant. The explorers are older hence is relates to using a rap legend who could relate to them more. I thought it was important to add variety in looks to interest different readers

• King O, I thought in terms of conventional looks, my initial model (Obinna) was the perfect fit, for a Rapper, because of his attributes etc. Obinna had a typical old school rapper look, and because of his height and his looks he looked very mature which represented well of a Hip Hop legend. But I had to choose someone else because of issues. It was because the organization wasn’t done well enough and the communication broke down because of what he wanted. I felt he was the next best fit, but he wasn’t as suited as the first. The improvement would’ve been having a much older looking model.

• Kenzo, was to represent the integration of fashion in Hip Hop. In particular Asian Urban fashion that is becoming more and more popular. The model was suitable because he represented a young, fashion artist, who the readers could look up to. I wanted to break the barrier presented by Hip Hop that it is only listened to by black people. As I wanted to provide the message to encourage creativity and do something that you love.

• Kareem, was relevant because he represented the growing popularity of Hip Hop, and because Hip Hop is dominated by black artists, I wanted to provide the message that anyone can make it no matter what the appearance. I especially wanted to break this convention because I was attracting Digital Natives, who are very conscious of their image, so having a different ethnic Artist was important for the Strivers. I felt in terms of image, it would’ve have looked better if I had my initial artist(Max) that I had picked, but due to issues we couldn't have him. As I wanted to have an artist with long hair, to connote that you don’t have to succumb to Raps convention. The issue was that there was difficulty with scheduling and regulations that school put on us that made it difficult. But I moved past that by using his brother which I felt was the next best fit.

• King O was presented in a dominant stature. This followed the convention of Rap artists being dominant.

• Kenzo was presented as a fan. As he looks up, it connotes how he looks up to the likes of King O.

• Kareem, was presented shy. The hat covers his face, and the all black connotes how he doesn’t want to be noticed, on the other hand it stas fashionable as all black is popular among the post modern urban fashion. I had him purposefully hide his to build up suspense on his appearance. It adds an entertainment value (Blumler and Katz uses and gratification) as well as it protects the identity of the artist, so it acts as a build up. Normally the convention would be for a rapper to be arrogant but that was my reason for him hiding his face.

Conventions of Double Page Spread

• The Double page spread has to elaborate more information about a particular topic, and provide enough information to generally satisfy the needs of the audience. A double page spread, tends to cover the main cover line on a front page. This tends to be the most popular artist or a main feature to the magazine. The spread tends to detail an image and tells what or who the image is of.

• The normal convention of a double page spread was that normally the set up is of text on one page and a image on the other page. This is meant to be cohesive and the image is meant to represent the type of article it is and meant to attract the audience attention. Typical Hip Hop magazines follow a convention of having 1 image in the whole spread as it represents the audience being unsophisticated and become more overwhelming for them.

• In My Magazine I challenged this convention and had two images overall in the double page spread. It connoted the sophistication of the magazine, and it represented the magazine as Entertaining which was for the purpose of the double image.

• The layout of the article was a typical conventional standard of a double page spread. It was structured into three columns. Initially I did want it as mass text as I thought it looked better, although it was unsophisticated look I felt it was outweighed because I thought it looked better. But after I reevaluated it having it columned out looked less overwhelming and it looked more sophisticated. I felt that it was more friendly for fox thinkers as it was organized and structured well and the layout felt it had a better purpose.

• I also followed the convention of having a pull quote this is because it appeals to the audience, as it provides a more personal identity with the artist.

• The article in the magazine was sophisticated and was in first person of the artist. This is unconventional in Hip Hop magazines especially if the artist is not an established star. I had it in first person because it connotes that Hip Hop artists can be sophisticated challenging the ideology of Hip Hop artists being uneducated. Another reason for having in first person was because of the fact the slogan was “more than Hip Hop”, this meant that having the view of the artist in there personal view supported the slogan. I felt that as my audience were strivers (Primary) having it in first person helped them engage more, as often you don’t get that same personal feel as you do when it’s a journalist writing it. This allowed the audience to put themselves in the artist shoes and it attracted them to read it as it was in there view. The article was formal to connote the sophistication of the audience.

The Way The Artist’s were represented

• Due to magazine being a small Music magazine, I did not want to follow generalization and idealism of Hip Hop.

• I represented the males as themselves, so the audience can feel more personal connection with the artists. This is my representation to Strivers who aspire to be like these rappers that its not all about money and amazing lifestyle. This is because young people (Digital Natives) tend to be easily influenced as they not seen as sophisticated and are seen more passive. Therefore I wanted to use the artists to inform them what life really is like as an artist.

• I did not want to make any of my artists gangster or in any sort of sense look violent. The only artist that was meant to look in power was King O due to his longevity in the Hip Hop industry.

• This process is know as Interpellation by Louis Althusser. This idea is the social practice of misrecognizing yourself based on a “False Consciousness” represented by media representations, and I did not want my readers to think of life being perfect as a Rapper. As I did not want to think these rappers live in simulacra.

The Way The Artist’s were represented

Pt.2• I used a mix of Artists to embrace the growing

diverse culture of Hip Hop. I can apply Stuart Hall’s Audience Reception Theory, this means that the audience tends to read a text according to their cultural upbringing. By having a diverse range of artists, I influence different ethnic readers to expand there knowledge of other races other than there own. As western (white dominated) cultures, continue to misinterpret ethnic minorities in media due to underlying racial tendencies, regarding them as “The Other”. Having this magazine was meant to show the oppression felt by the Afro Caribbean communities who are seemed to be mistreated by their own justice system.

The Way The Artist’s were represented

Pt.3• Due to my main audience being young

strivers. I can apply Jacques Lacan theory the Mirror Stage. This is where infants see their reflections and see it as a superior reflection of themselves that they must spire to be. This is relevant to my audience, although they are not infant they are young, and when they see successful artist who have struggled in life it makes them want to grow up like them e.g. 50 cent. This brings more personal connection to the artists and the readers.

Theories Involved in my Magazine

• I also applied Cultivation theory in my magazine, as I acknowledged the power of Media. That is is responsible for shaping the viewers conceptions of social reality. Therefore I didn’t have the artists doing anything they wouldn’t, so it didn’t create a false reality for what audiences see in there music videos.

• Hegemony also applies to my magazine. In the media it encourages people to consent to a status quo meaning the power structures. By having a diverse cultural ethnic background of the “other” ethnicities. It meant that although they have been established and are signed they still have to work for a white person on the top of the board, just another way of saying that they are better paid slaves.

• I defied conventional stereotypes in my magazine, because my audience were sophisticated and I wanted them to be individuals and not follow the ideologies followed by stereotypes. As Stereotypes create a flashy simulacrum of the image of being a rapper, I didn’t want to give striving Artists False Hope. As well as the idea that different ethnicities can listen to Rap, not caring about there appearance.

Theories Involved in my Magazine pt.2

• I also applied Uses and Gratification Theory as I wanted to ensure that the magazine satisfied the 4 needs Entertainment, Information, Personal Identity and Social Interaction. I wanted to emphasize personal identity because my audience were strivers, so having the connection between fan and artist creates a better relationship.

• I used Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to identify what stage my audience would be at and what they want. I identified that my target audience would be satisfies by Self Esteem, they are earning little money but in search of success.

• Two Step Flow was a theory first step being that opinion leader gets information from arm media source and the second step, means the opinion leader passes information. I used this and applied this as the Opinion Leader being the artists and they pass valuable information to young striving artists, which acts as a Unique selling point.

EVALUATION OF MY

PRODUCT

I placed the Cover line over the main focal image of Glock, to create a better connotation of how ashamed the artist it. It’s a conventional method.

The unconventional placement of the barcode was done because it fit better there.

The skyline is focused on a having a magazine that is exclusive to act as a Unique Selling point and because Hip Hop fans tend to be collectors it provides Social Interaction.I used a Red background to follow the convention of danger in Hip Hop

This followed a conventional style of Rap Magazine, it connoted how Hip Hop is related to crime, but I turned this into a positive way to create more attention for Up and Coming Artists to connote their growth.

Conventional method of having the Magazine Logo to create more brand awareness.

I designed a very simple logo to compliment the Title to make sure that it looks appealing and interacting.

Conventional method of having the date of issue, but I tried to make it look appealing by putting it on the side.

I added more content than the conventional hip hop magazine, because my audience is sophisticated.I added the

color of red for the background again because it links with the Masthead color.The images are not conventional, as normally its 1 artist, I added 3 artist because my audience are sophisticated and I wanted to expose them into different sectors of Hip Hop

If I had done more research I wonder if I could have added what clothes he was wearing to integrate the fashion of Hip Hop.

Although I followed the convention of a magazine, I felt that the caption didn’t fit in its place.

This was conventional because this was a category I felt the positioning of it was good too.

The Title of the artist is blocky and red trying to follow the connotation of Rappers being aggressive, but I chose this color so more people are attracted to this article as it is not the main Cover line in the magazine.

This was a more fun idea, of trying to show that the artist had to work hard to get his name to this height. But it connotes his difference in personalities. This was unconventional because I portrayed him fun here but I did this to show that its not all about crime in Hip Hop.

I added a Pull Quote because It was conventional, to grab the strivers attention as it relates to the Audiences desires. I used a Drop Cap, this is conventional in Magazines. I used it create a more sophisticated look and to emphasize the “I” as it is all first person.

It was conventional to add the magazine website to add exposure to digital natives about the website, as well as the date of issue.

I columned it to make it look more sophisticated and to organize for fox thinkers. I added a lot of text which was unconventional in terms of Hip Hop Magazines, was because I was trying to recognize my sophisticated audience.

Overall • Front Cover: I feel I have met most conventions and the

conventions I didn’t meet I felt it was appropriate and did not affect the magazine. Thus providing a entertaining magazine that is engaging.

• Content Page: I felt I met most conventions well. I felt it was engaging to sophisticated audiences but at the same time I organised it well enough for the unsophisticated fox thinkers to appreciate it. I do feel the captioning could have been done better.

• Double Page Spread: I felt that the captioning could’ve have been done better for the double page spread. I feel that the spread was conventional in terms of keeping it organized and sophisticated.