Task 12- Question 7 Evaluation

Task 12- Question 6 Evaluation

Task 12- Question 5 Evaluation

Question 5 from Tyrell Willock

Task 12- Question 4 Evaluation

Evaluation: Question 4 |Create infographics

Task 12- Question 3 Evaluation

Task 12- Question 2 Evaluation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWwARivZrUo

Transcript:

Linking to the NRS social grade, my audience are of a middle class, lower middle class, skilled working class and non-working, which grades to CE. The reason I have said non-working class is that some of my audience are still young and are probably not in work at this moment of time, but may be in education. My niche audience are hip hop fans, as they have an interest in the genre of my magazine. Representation of the youth can be positive as well as negative. In the contents page, there seems to be a negative representation portrayed to the audience. The girl on the left is seen as a sexual object, which reinforces Laura Mulvey’s Male Gaze theory, as she is underdressed. Moreover, her facial expressions show us that she seems to have a flirtatious side to her. The long open hair may connote her free flowing and casual nature. These seem to be the conventions but when researching my case studies, such as the front page of Vibe, where the anchorage text links directly to the image “Stand up Ciara”, even though she isn’t wearing much, I decided to make sure my model wasn’t too sexually explicit.

Not specifically all black youth listen or are a part of Hip Hop music. I have challenged the codes and conventions of Hip Hop genre. I have used a white male, who is suited, smart and well groomed, which reinforces power and the male stereotypes of masculinity. He is also a teenager which challenges traditional representations of teenage males. He shows himself as a sophisticated young musician, which would reflect to my target audience, as they would want to dress in nice suits and wear jewellery such as a watch or a ring. The rose that the girl holds on the contents page reflects the positive emotion she has for music, as she also ‘blows the audience a kiss’. This connotes the love she has, as the colour red connotes love she could have for music. This message is portrayed throughout my magazine and is the main reason for the making of my magazine. Iconography is used to confirm the genre of my magazine, as we see the picture of the group holding guitars. I also have a picture of the PA system which again proves the genre. My journalistic text is quick and easy to read, as it is firstly for children/young adults. Young people are represented as lazy, so as a magazine, we would want to make it easier for our audience to get a hold of. I have made it quick and easy to read by putting my text in first person writing. This will allow my audience to feel in the place of the interviewee. It also has the realism, as if the interviewee was in the room. 

Task 12- Question 1 Evaluation

Task 11- Draft for task 12

Evaluation For Media Task 12

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

Front Page

The genre of my magazine is Hip Hop. I called my magazine UpBeat. I decided to call this as most Hip Hop music is upbeat and lively. Also, it links in with the theme. People would wonder what UpBeat was, if it was in the shops. Before I named my magazine ‘UpBeat’, I looked at the possibility of calling my magazine ‘Dope’, as it links in with the young audience that I am trying to attract. The word is most known to them, but researching the name, I felt that it would have some bad repercussions. Before I chose the Hip Hop genre, I was looking to do a rock magazine, so the case studies I used were NME and Kerrang. Knowing that I wanted to change my genre, I started looking at XXL magazine and Vibe magazine, the two known Hip Hop magazines. For the Hip Hop genre, they usually stick to a certain colour scheme. XXL used red, black and white and Vibe used different colours, due to different issues of the magazine.

I used the same colours that XXL use; black, white and red. This wasn’t to copy, but these colours look very sophisticated and appealing to my audience. Red usually connotes love, which does link to my audience, as they have love for the Hip Hop genre. I have made sure that I have placed a masthead on the top of my magazine. Just above this is the skyline, which usually promotes something in the magazine, which is supposed to draw the audience to the magazine. The word ‘magazine’ is facing at a vertical angle, as having UpBeat Magazine in one line would take up space or I would have had to have made the masthead smaller, but this would be developing magazine conventions of a real life product. I feel that this could be one of my USP’s, as I haven’t seen magazines do this on their front cover. My masthead is bold and is of a red font which black colour outline, so that it doesn’t just hold one colour but two. I tried to include anchorage text, but it wasn’t as effective as my case study examples were. (For example….) Looking at my case studies from the rock genre to the Hip Hop genre, they have used direct mode of address, so I have also used direct mode of address. This engages with the audience, for them to buy the magazine. My model is a smart and clean male, who would attract, mostly, the female audience (16-28). He is gently holding is hair with his fingers, which could present his personality as vain. I have taken a medium shot of my model. On the bottom left hand side, I have placed the names of some of the artists that will feature in the magazine. Most of the artists are known to the Hip Hop audience, so they would be drawn the names they see. I have organised these names on the lower left third and I have placed my teasers on the right hand side. It seems to look neat as well as presentable. I have used buzz words such as ‘Free’ and ‘Exclusive’.

Contents

My intention was to have a single page contents page, but this wouldn’t allow me to fit a lot of content on it, so I used a double page instead. I divided it into two sections, the A side and the B side. The model on the left is the main attraction. It reflects the Laura Mulvey’s Male Gaze theory, as she seems underdressed. I decided to make sure my model wasn’t too sexually explicit, as when looking at my case study of Ciara in Vibe, she was naked. The rose that the girl holds on the contents page reflects the positive emotion she has for music, as she also ‘blows the audience a kiss’. This connotes the love she has, as the colour red connotes love she could have for music. This message is portrayed throughout my magazine and is the main reason for the making of my magazine. Iconography is used to confirm the genre of my magazine, as we see the picture of the group holding guitars. I also have a picture of the PA system which again proves the genre. Looking back at my feedback, people told me that my contents page less like a music contents page. I decided to layout my content page differently to Vibe and XXL, as I didn’t want to follow their conventions. The only thing I looked at and approved of and developed on my contents page was the division of the A side and the B side. It seemed to look very professional and it also stood out when I looked at it. XXL magazine had the convention of using a larger image to convey the main story and text conveying the editorial aspects. I feel that I have developed this convention. I have made it different by allowing another story to have a bit more importance. Also, using the girl on the left allowed me to attract my male audience, as they would most probably want to view this page. My colour scheme of red, black and white is consistent from the front page to the contents page. I have adverts that will entice my audience into probably searching up what they see. I have adverts such as Ralph Lauren, JD and Play Dirty, which are all clothing lines. Some of my editorial aspects have iconography linking with it. Some of them don’t. The ones that contain the iconography also have the number, as the description has a number. For example, page 51 has an image on the top and also has the writing on the right hand side of the contents page. I have used a range of iconography to appeal and attract my audience. The terminology used for the contents is short and simple to read, as it is firstly for children/young adults. Young people are represented as lazy, so as a magazine, we would want to make it easier for our audience to get a hold of. My page numbers are in black. My main coverlines are in black with a white outline whereas my text underneath it is just in red. The page numbers next to the coverlines are in red with a white outline. I challenged the conventions of a Hip Hop magazine, as I have added an editorial message as well as a picture to link next to it. I saw examples of this in the rock magazines for my case studies but I couldn’t find it in Vibe and XXL. It allows my audience to feel welcome and it seems to be of a more personal and fun statement.

DPS

Viewing my case studies of rock magazine as well as Hip Hop ones, showed me the layout of a DPS. They had an image to link with the journalistic text. This is a convention and I have used this convention. I believe that I have also developed this convention, by publishing concert dates on the right hand side where the model is. This is to attract my audience, so if they want to go to a concert, they know what date and can find out more and maybe book a ticket. I really like what I’ve done with this and it seems to be one of my USP’s. The layout feels really professional and I have kept the colour scheme consistent throughout the front page and contents page. I have added drop cap to my DPS. This enables me to use the convention. I have separated the intro with the question and answer, so that my audience can know where the information starts and where the Q&A starts. I believe that this is another of my USP’s. Everything seems to be colour co-ordinated. My questions are in red, the answers are in black, my quotes are in red with a white outline and a drop shadow and the title of the artist is in black with a red outline. My journalistic text is quick and easy to read, as it is firstly for children/young adults. Young people are represented as lazy, so as a magazine, we would want to make it easier for our audience to get a hold of. I have made it quick and easy to read by putting my text in first person writing. This will allow my audience to feel in the place of the interviewee. It also has the realism, as if the interviewee was in the room. Although columns are not visible, I still feel like the layout of the Q&A is very neat and that I have placed the pull quote in the right place.

2.       How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Linking to the NRS social grade, my audience are of a middle class, lower middle class, skilled working class and non-working, which grades to CE. The reason I have said non-working class is that some of my audience are still young and are probably not in work at this moment of time, but may be in education. My niche audience are hip hop fans, as they have an interest in the genre of my magazine. Representation of the youth can be positive as well as negative. In the contents page, there seems to be a negative representation portrayed to the audience. The girl on the left is seen as a sexual object, which reinforces Laura Mulvey’s Male Gaze theory, as she is underdressed. Moreover, her facial expressions show us that she seems to have a flirtatious side to her. The long open hair may connote her free flowing and casual nature. These seem to be the conventions but when researching my case studies, such as the front page of Vibe, where the anchorage text links directly to the image “Stand up Ciara”, even though she isn’t wearing much, I decided to make sure my model wasn’t too sexually explicit.

Not specifically all black youth listen or are a part of Hip Hop music. I have challenged the codes and conventions of Hip Hop genre. I have used a white male, who is suited, smart and well groomed, which reinforces power and the male stereotypes of masculinity. He is also a teenager which challenges traditional representations of teenage males. He shows himself as a sophisticated young musician, which would reflect to my target audience, as they would want to dress in nice suits and wear jewellery such as a watch or a ring. The rose that the girl holds on the contents page reflects the positive emotion she has for music, as she also ‘blows the audience a kiss’. This connotes the love she has, as the colour red connotes love she could have for music. This message is portrayed throughout my magazine and is the main reason for the making of my magazine. Iconography is used to confirm the genre of my magazine, as we see the picture of the group holding guitars. I also have a picture of the PA system which again proves the genre. My journalistic text is quick and easy to read, as it is firstly for children/young adults. Young people are represented as lazy, so as a magazine, we would want to make it easier for our audience to get a hold of. I have made it quick and easy to read by putting my text in first person writing. This will allow my audience to feel in the place of the interviewee. It also has the realism, as if the interviewee was in the room.

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

The publishers I will have publish my magazine is TimeInc, formerly known as IPC Media. Why I used this publisher is because they have offices around the world from New York, to London, to Chicago, which will increase my audience number and readership.  It can also be distributed around the globe. Also, TimeInc only publish one music magazine to my research of the publisher group. NME is the known music magazine TimeInc publish, but they wouldn’t be a threat for my magazine UpBeat, as the genre of my magazine is Hip Hop and NME is more of a rock magazine.  I believe that it will have an advantage for my magazine as well as my publishers as they would be trying to promote a new genre of music and to see how beneficial it would be to have a new genre in their name. They publish magazines such as NME, Woman’s Weekly, Now and Time for Kids. It shows that they have a wide audience and they publish magazines for kids, the adolescent and older audience. It also shows that they have experience.

Due to my distribution method I must be weary of ‘sale or return’ as I am having print magazines instead of E-zines. I wasn’t looking to use E-zines as I knew I wouldn’t be making much profit because they are usually free to access. I know that the disadvantages of using the ‘sale or return’ method is that the copies that are not sold will be returned. In order to reduce the number of magazine that are sent back, we will monitor areas that sell the most/least, to then send them the right amount of magazines.

Although there won’t be E-zines, there will be an app, whereby you can access the download link on UpBeat’s website. The app will enable people to listen to recommended tracks, access more gossip and compete in quizzes. Using the method of including an app brings value added content for the magazine.

We want to have a subscription option, to ensure regular readership and monitor how many readers we have, so our publishers can produce the press kit for UpBeat Magazine. It also leads to regular income as well as a bit of profit. Subscription also prevents people from reading it and sending it back to our publishers whereas in a shop like WHSmith, the audience could read our magazine through the shop and then place it back in the shop.

Although we are not using E-zines, my publishers have made sure there is an electronic brand extension, whereby my magazine publishers will be expansive with the use of social media. The link to UpBeat magazines’ website will be placed on the TimeInc website, but the UpBeat website will have the Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube links for the UpBeat social media pages.

The QR code does not feature on the front page of the magazine, although there was space, but I mainly decided to put on in the magazine as people could read the magazine before they use the QR code, which would lead them to more value added content.

The reason I didn’t use other publishers like Townsquare Media and Spin Media is because they publish the top hip hop/RnB music magazines such as XXL and Vibe, which does cause rivalry. Townsquare Media and Spin Media wouldn’t want to invest and publish my magazine as they already publish the type of magazine similar to mine whereas TimeInc would benefit from it, as it will create more profit for them.

4.       Who would be the audience for your media product?

My magazine target audience are 16-28 year olds. My magazine is aimed at both men and women from different ethnic minorities such as Spanish, African American, white or Hispanic. My audience mainly like clothing, especially named brands such as Nike, Ralph Lauren, Gucci and Hollister. In my magazine, I have a JD advert, Play Dirty clothing line advert, (which is Krept and Konan’s clothing life as they are artist who rap). I also have included a Ralph Lauren and John Lewis advert to cater for the middle class/upper class, so their needs are satisfied. Most of my audience like to attend concerts, so in the magazine, we try to give information about up and coming gigs or concerts or even award ceremonies. My audiences life’s revolve around the new media, so we have the UpBeat website, which is similar to the app but just an ‘on the go’ feature. I also have a Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube page for the magazine. The reason why we see such younger faces is that my magazine is based around up and coming artists. The Making of Dorian Black clearly suggest this, so I believe that it is aimed at people aspiring to be a musician and want some tips from people who have been through the journey, young or old.

5.       How did you attract/address your audience?

Usually we would see a black, well known artist on the front page of a Hip Hop magazine but I have broken this stereotype. Using a white male as my front cover, it would welcome the white audience into reading more. He is dressed in a suit to show importance and maturity as a young teenager. My model is 18, so my primary audience can relate to someone close to their age range (16-21 especially). My model is well groomed, which reinforces the male stereotypes of masculinity. Also, being a teenager, it challenges traditional representations of teenage males. He shows himself as a sophisticated young musician, which would reflect to my target audience, as they would want to dress in nice suits and wear jewellery such as a watch or a ring. Their passion is mainly for the love of music. I have used a similar colour scheme just like XXL magazine, black, red and white. The effect of this is to allow my audience to glimpse my magazine in the shops, and mistake it for XXL. This will then enable them to pick up the magazine and realise it is a different magazine.

The reason I have called my magazine UpBeat is because I feel my audience feel ‘upbeat’ when they listen to music. I feel that they should be upbeat when the topic is music. The typography of my masthead is clear and simple to read. The word ‘magazine’ is facing at a vertical angle, as having UpBeat Magazine as one would take up space or I would have had to have made the masthead smaller, but this would break magazine conventions. On the bottom left hand side, I have placed the names of some of the artists that will feature in the magazine. Most of the artists are known to the Hip Hop audience, so they would be drawn the names they see. I have targeted my audience with my Coverline, ‘The Making of Dorian Santos’, to show the way that he has come for him to be suited and well groomed. I have laid out my contents page into two sides. The A side, for the regulars and The B side, for the features. This allows my audience to find what they are looking for quicker, instead of browsing through the contents page to find the features or the regulars. This idea has mainly come from XXL, as they have sectioned their contents page into two.  I have made it clear about the artist that feature in the magazine on the front page, but the page numbers for some of the artist are in the contents page as well. Short and sweet terminology is used to attract my audience, as long text will retract them away from reading the magazine. The main concept of my magazine is to attract the people who are aspiring to become musicians, so the image of the kids holding guitars represents this. The picture was also taken in the prestigious BRIT school, which specialises in music/performing acts. In my DPS, I feel that it could teach my audience how they should work hard for what they aspire to become. It also teaches them the people that (Dorian Santos) aspired to, which could allow them to listen to some songs of the artist.

As my audience are young, their lives revolve around social media, so UpBeat do have a Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube accounts as well as their own app. UpBeat have a website, where you can get information about subscription options and receive value added content. This increases audience interactivity.

The price of my magazine is £2.49. I have used psychological pricing. It’s not your usually pricing, as you would see £1.99/£2.99, but I believe that I should go for the middle pricing between £1.99 and £2.99. The Euro pricing does feature on the front cover, as this links to the 12 offices that TimeInc operate. The euro pricing is €3.19. The subscription option is available in the US and UK, at the postal price of £3.00 + P&P.

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

For the making of my magazine, I used a lot of different technologies that had different purposes. These technologies were Photoshop, InDesign, Blogger, Adobe Bridge, Camera (In Photography studio) and YouTube. For my evaluation, I am looking to use Infogram, Slideshare, Prezi and a Video/Vlog of me presenting my answer.  Infogram will be used for question 4, as I will also be adding a mini press kit/media pack, informing the audience about Age, Gender and Ethnicity Readership. I will be using Slideshare for question 5, as my main focus is to inform the audience with texts and pictures on a slideshow and not use PowerPoint. I will use YouTube for question 2 and Prezi for question 3. The other questions will use either Prezi, infogram or Emaze.

For Blogger, I have used it to post my work and keep up to date with my tasks. I can also preview and look back at my work, if I need to comment on previous tasks. I can also receive feedback on the blogger, if needed to write an evaluation on a task. It helped me to neat my work and know the date of when the work was published out. It also allows peers to view at my work. I found blogger easier as it was connected to Google. Once learning how to upload, it felt like a norm.

Using the photography studio was quite easy, as I had a bit of experience during work experience. I learnt to use a white backdrop but to make sure they aren’t standing at the back of the backdrop. I also had to make sure all my studio lights are flash. I also used a Trinity Flash head and was told to never have the studio lights on. I was taught about the 3 point lighting and that the main light is the first light that will be positioned on my model. I learnt about another light called the hair light, which is also a snoot (which is a light mechanism). The camera I used was the Nikon D7000 which has 17MP. The key words are; Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority and Mono chrome.

I used Photoshop instead Paint, because Photoshop is much more professional. I only knew how to crop something. I have now learnt how to adjust the brightness/contrast on pictures in Photoshop. I also learnt about resizing images. If I wanted to make an image smaller/bigger, I knew how to adjust the size. I also learnt about alignment for the text. I learnt that you must put rulers to a specific length to remind myself where the text couldn’t go past. This made things much easier to align the text, making it look professional. I also learnt how to fade and blend in pictures and letters. I have learnt that using Photoshop is much better than using something like Paint. Paint doesn’t have tools such as adjusting brightness and contrast, being able to blend photos and making a magazine actually look realistic. I have learnt that using Photoshop makes my product look professional. I found Photoshop easy to use, as I now feel confident with it. I have also grew new skills whilst working on my project

InDesign was difficult as I hadn’t used it before. It was similar but different to Photoshop. InDesign allowed me to create my contents page and my DPS. InDesign allowed me to align and position text. For example, I have positioned my text in different section and I have added a pull quote with a drop shadow. Learning how to make drop shadow was really good as it looked catchy.  On my contents page, putting pictures in a rectangular box was easy. Another thing I learnt about InDesign is the use of columns. Using columns allowed me to position my A side and my B side properly and professionally. Learning how to use columns, allowed me to accomplish my double page spread article. Finally, I learned that rulers would keep the columns neat and to the right measurement. Overall, I found using InDesign was a bit difficult. This was because there was so many tools to understand, however I found quite a lot of it easy to use.

Adobe Bridge allowed me to collect all my photos together and preview them in one. Another technology I used was Timetoast. It allowed me to see the organisation of my task and check when the deadlines are.

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 I have improved technically, aesthetically and theoretically. In the preliminary task, the mis-en-scene was decent. I used an image of a student on a bench next to trees. The image matched the colour scheme of yellow, blue and green. The magazine was a college magazine aimed at young people who are in college. I had taken photos freely and of stuff that linked to college. Pictures of a student in the library, the football pitch, the art faculty and pictures of the lockers. These all link to the purpose of my magazine (genre). I do believe the pictures I took were relevant. Unfortunately, most of the images didn't have a message or a meaning behind it. For my model on the front page, the shot type was a medium close up shot. My main purpose for this was to make sure that my audience could realise what she was sitting on and also see the ID card around the neck. It was my first time using InDesign, so it was going to be a challenge for me. I had limited coverlines and a few buzz words like ‘Free’.  I just felt my whole magazine was a mess. The content was all so limited. The pictures had importance but looking at my music magazine, I can see the mind-set of pictures I took then, to what I took now. My contents page doesn’t even contain a regulars section. Looking back at the preliminary task, I feel that my work was limited, unrealistic and of bad standard.

Creating my newly Hip Hop magazine, UpBeat, I feel very pleased with the progression I’ve made. It has been a slow but effective progression. Firstly my layout of my pages have been much better, as they look professional and not too cramped up. I have seen that some Hip Hop magazine don’t contain a lot at the front, but some great teasers that can build a suspense to open up the magazine. I have kept to a clear colour scheme and it looks attractive to the eye. Using a wild mix like blue, yellow and green, now, seemed to be a mistake, as the page looked wild. Before my final product, during the making of my music magazine, I tried to use yellow, black and white, but they didn’t seem to mix well and from my audience feedback, I felt that I needed to change it. Also, before my completed product, I tried to use a single page content page, but when receiving my feedback from my audience, they seemed to feel that not a lot would go on to the contents page. In the preliminary task, I had also done the single page contents page, but it seemed limited compare to my finished double page contents page. I definitely had more time and freedom to take relevant photos for my magazine whereas before, I felt that I rushed into taking photos. In aesthetic terms, I feel that my image were relevant. I took a pictures of students holding up guitars in the prestigious performing arts/music school, BRIT School. I feel like I have learned a lot practically, technically and also theoretically.

Overall, I believe that I have learnt a lot in this course, and I have learnt a lot about audience, as the audience is not just age, ethnicity and gender, but also social class, occupation and area you may live in. I have learnt so much more than I did at GCSE level in how to create 3 pages to the magazine as well as develop my skills in designing, writing and analysing.