Q1- How does my media product use or develop conventions?

PART 2-

As I only focused on the style and image of my artist in the video and how I applied or developed conventions on to my artist's look in each of the shots, I am now going to provide an insight into the conventions in which I developed in terms of the creation of: article content on my double page spread and the aspect of power and dominance within the Hiphop genre.

Article content on double page spread;

My double page spread was very significant in construction in terms of it holding the most substance out of all three of my creations; I really wanted to ensure that I used and developed conventions to allow it to appeal to my target audience by matching up to conventions within the Hiphop genre. The article content needed to follow conventions of typical language types which artists belonging to the Hiphop genre tend to use to allow readers to feel familiar with the genre and the language types of my artist therefore I used an article from XXL Hiphop magazine as inspiration to ensure I followed conventions for an effective and believable article. Below is the article I used:

I incorporated taboo language such as 'f**k' as I discovered this was typical language associated with the Hiphop genre and scene and above is just one example where this was obvious- the fifth line into the interview reads 'Where the f**k did everybody go?' therefore in my article I created a line which read 'But I say f**k the haters!' I wanted to include this type of language for my artist to fit the genre by allowing it to become realistic for consumers.

I discovered that through out articles found in Hiphop magazines, chatty and phatic type language flows through out the article and to hit the same target of making my magazine to seem realistic and believable for the consumer I wanted to follow this convention too. In the example above, tag questions such as 'You know' and short statements to convey the artists chatty tone such as 'I always floated my own money. We made our own moves' were used and in my article I wanted to use the same type language. I used the colloquial and informal type language such as 'Not at all, I mean, I've always been...' to get across her chatty nature. I felt that the last line of the first answer- "That motherf***a gon' keep ya or its gon' leave ya. Its all on you" was really effective in terms of getting across the scene of Hiphop through taboo language and also effectively finishing off the answer strongly by stating an opinion and wanted to follow this type of convention which I felt that the artist in the example did often in the article above. I finished off the fourth answer off in my article with the line, 'You're never going to fully escape your insecurities and you're never going to fully escape from your haters, but I say f**k the haters!' I felt that this line stated her opinion as well as incorporated taboo language to get across the abrupt and 'care-free' attitude most artists belonging to the Hiphop genre have due to often use of swear words. 

Apart from language, another convention which articles belonging to Hiphop music magazines followed, was the act of flowing from question to answer each time, in other words, asking a question with relation to the answer they have just given. This may be a conventional aspect in all magazine articles providing an interview, however as it was a strong convention in Hiphop music magazines therfore I felt it was important to ensure I incorporated a strong sense of it.  Here is another example of an interview found at THE SOURCE Hiphop  music magazine online with an artist and an interview where their conversation flows from one question to the next holding relevance:

"Where did you get the name A Mafia come from?

I was known as AB in my neighborhood and when I was in jail I wanted a new name and for my new perspective. So I came up with A Mafia because I’m connected throughout Real Harlem. I know where everything is at.

You say the term “Real Harlem” a lot what does that mean?

Real Harlem for me is people who don’t wear skinny jeans, skinny clothes. Real Harlem niggas stick together. There are a certain amount of people that only promote Lenox Ave but Harlem is bigger than Lenox. Even though it’s small the presence is big."

As you can see the interview flows, ensuring one question is presented with relevance to the previous answer and I wanted to ensure I did this in my article to follow conventions to allow my article to feel believable and realistic. Here is an example from my article where I have applied this convention;

(End of answer) "But my biggest, current inspiration that influenced me into taking the route into the music industry since the age of 17, has to be Nicki Minaj, she's just amazing."
(Following question) "You've been referred to the English Nicki Minajtimes.. Has this had an effect on your fans or even how you perceive yourself?"

Unlike the first example of the article from XXL music magazine, I did not want to include an introduction which would be presented before the interview therefore I developed this convention which is typically used in Hiphop magazines and summed up briefly the basis of the article to follow in the sub-heading. Here is an example of THE SOURCE Hiphop music magazine's introduction before the interview above starts:

A Mafia is making a name for himself as he puts out what seems like non-stop music. You can add “The Digital Hustler” to the growing list of up and coming MCs out of New York that is making waves in hip hop. Since coming home from prison, his work ethic has been relentless dropping mixtapes and releasing multiple videos for each tape. His newest tape is calledUnder The Scope.

This introduction stands as a detailed insight into the article and so does the article above this example as it reads three paragraphs for its introduction, however I wanted to briefly summarise in a 2/3 lines what instead therefore I developed this convention by stating:

'The new face of Hiphop entered the scene of music with a bang! With the success of her first album shadowing her every move, Tyra, 22, is beginning to make a dominant stand in the industry, Tyra tells her tale..."

Power, danger + dominance;

The music genre, scene and culture of Hiphop has a main focus and drive of power and dominance; whether its the artists belonging to the genre, the producers of the music, or the Hiphop magazines themselves, themes of power and domination are conventions belonging to the Hiphop genre which are expressed continuously and strongly.

Through my research of Hiphop music magazines, I discovered that red and black colour schemes through front covers, contents pages and double page spreads were a recurrence. As you can see to the right and left, front covers of XXL and THE SOURCE are covered in black and red text and this is a  significant convention in relation  to the connotations of  power and dominance which the artists as well as the magazine puts forward. The colours of red and black connote power, danger and even mystery and as explained in earlier in my blog in my reasearch, the lyrics of particular artists support these themes as well as the magazine colour schemes. As this was a strong convention following the Hiphop genre, I applied it on to my production, and incorporated colours such as red and black on my double page spread, black on my contents page, and black text on my front cover as you can see below: 

                                                                      

Black background used for the contents page

         

Red text used for the 'T' of Tyra, to reinforce the power and dominance theme on to her

and red text used on the questions to reinforce the themes on to the magazines (interviwer)

Black text used for 'UP COMING TOUR DATES 2012' to reinforce these themes on to my front cover.

Even though I used these conventions of colour schemes to present themes of power, danger and dominance, I wanted to develop it to ensure both genders of my target audience were reached effectively. I felt that black + red were stereotypically associated as masculine colours and as my USP and main focus of my magazine was the artist, Tyra, who is female therefore I wanted to ensure that I developed this convention by incoporating colours which were typically associated with females to gain a balance in appeal. I used colours such as yellow in my title design which was presented on every design of my three creations, as well as incorporating this colour through the design of the app, and some of the text on my contents page; I felt this colour wasn't strongly associated with females but was more feminine than black and red. I also felt that yellow was a bright and bold colour, effectivley dominating each design in terms of boldness matching up to the dominance I wanted the rest of my three creation to convey.

I then wanted to follow conventions of the themes power, danger and dominance through language choices. I was inspired by the dominating convention which was expressed through XXL's front cover to the right, 'DRAKE & NICKI'S DOMINATION'. I felt that this directly got the theme of domination across and wanted to anchor the image by using text similar for my artist on my front cover; I used the text- 'TYRA'S DOMINATION' on my front cover which I chose to sit in the same position as XXL's front cover, directly under the artist. (Above, you can see the positioning and use of this text on my front cover) However, I developed this convention by positioning the words in a over-lapping effect and made sure that I positioned 'TYRA' over 'DOMINATING' to emphasise that she is the one dominating the industry. I then created an image of her which would support this domination she is said to of had- the 'SHH' on her finger suggests she is telling other artists to 'SHH' which is reinforced through the headphones being around her neck instead of her ears, ultimately suggesting that she is dominating because she is in power of telling other artists to 'SHH' as its her time to dominate.

Direct mode of address plays a huge part in mantaining the domination artists and magazines are living up to in the Hiphop industry and this is a convention which I wanted to use in my magazine to suggest my artists were confident holding power.  Regardless of if the artist is directly facing the camera with their body language, their eyes are always directed addressing the reader fiercly. As you can see on the XXL example to the left, the two artists may be not facing the camera in both of the images but they are always keeping eye contact with the camera suggesting confidence and power; these two themes are reinforced directly under the '50 CENT AND FLOYD' as the sub-heading states 'IT'S ALWAYS MONEY POWER AND RESPECT'.

I ensured that both of my artists held direct mode of address in all their images to connote these themes as well as keeping to conventions to allow the reader to feel familiar with what they are consuming also. As you can see to the left is my image of the duo artist, 'CLONED' and through this I reinforced the theme of power and dominance through not only their direct mode of address but their fierce facial expressions. As you can see on all the exmaples above plus the example of the double page spread from XXL music magazine to the left,  facial expressions are very serious or experissionless on all the artists however I wanted to develop this convention and I did so through the fierce expressions the duo 'CLONED' is using and as well on the image of my artist Tyra on my double page spread you can see on the left.