Q4 + 5- Who would be the audience for your media product & how well did you attract them?

Below are three cartoon illustrations of the representation of members of my target audience. As a reminder, I have constructed a music magazine aimed at 18-34 male and females who follow the Hiphop scene of music and culture; I've narrowed the types of individuals down to black stereotypical members of the Hiphop genre. I have chosen three cartoon illustrations which have presented black people who follow the Hiphop scene of music and culture to identify what sort of people would consume my magazine. 

These are two cartoon illustrations which connote the two aspects which I made a dominant feature in my magazine- danger and power, through their clothing. I recognised that my target audience will follow similar conventions as the artists belonging to the Hiphop genre therefore clothing would be similar- as you can see some of the cartoon's are wearing black and red which connote danger and power therefore I made these connotations a dominant feature in my magazine to appeal to my target audience effectively. I did this through black and red text on my double page spread, a black background on my contents page and black cropped tops worn my my Hiphop duo 'CLONED.'

Some of the cartoons are also in break dancing positioning which is a strong convention which follows the Hiphop genre, therefore I realised that Hiphop dancers may also be the target audience. I did not use this convention in my music magazine as I did not feel dancing was relevant, I made my magazine more about the music instead. However Hiphop dancing is performed to Hiphop music so these individuals would still find something in my magazine suitable to their needs and wants, therefore I ensure I included 'UP-COMING TOUR DATES OF HIPHOP ARTISTS' a feature on my contents page, as they would benefit from this, as it's Hiphop music they could dance too. The majority of my target audience are of a black race and this is represented through the cartoon illustrations above. I made sure that the artists I used were of this race however I challenged this convention slightly through the use of my main artist 'Tyra' (as seen to the right) as she is lighter than typical artist belonging to the Hiphop genre and ultimately the target audience. I supported the 'black race' convention through the use of my Hiphop duo 'CLONED' as you can see in the image below:

The age group of my target audience is essentially the reason why I used contemporary items of clothing such as cropped tops and tribal print leggings and new and current forms of technology such as phone apps and digital subscriptions. 








This is the design of the app I used to promote my artist. I created this app to ensure I appealed to my target audience; they are young and surrounded by current forms of technology therefore I wanted to benefit them with an app relating to the artist.








                                                                                            
This is the cropped top I used for the image of my main artist on the double page spread. It is an example of current trends and used this on my artist to ensure my artist seemed realistic and relevant.
















Due to the age group of my target audience I was able to include a dominant convention which followed the Hiphop genre; taboo language. I used language such as 'F**CK' on my double page spread. I did this as I knew my target audience would be able to relate to these aspects and not feel influenced or harmed by it like they would if they were younger. Similarly most Hiphop magazines are targeted at this age group therefore I felt that I would follow these conventions to ensure I held a realistic target audience. 

My target audience consists of females as well as males too therefore I had to appeal to both genders through out my magazine. This was difficult to do due to the fact the artist I was using was a female and it was hard not to make everything feminine. Taking the sexualisation aspect further, I ensured I incorporated this in all of my images of my artists, therefore it would appeal to my male audience e.g. the cropped tops on both of the main images on my contents page and double page spread of my artist, showing their stomachs. I used masculine colours, of red and black on text and background of my product, to not only connote danger and power but to stereotypically appeal to a male audience.

The first image is of a male potential member of my target audience. In this image, the male is wearing red, he is of a black race and is a prime example on why I ensured I included these two aspects in my music magazine. The red and black aspects of my magazine would appeal to my male audience.The second image of a female potential member of my target audience. In this image she is sexualised hugely. The use of the cropped top is a prime example in why I incorporated one similar. It would appeal to a female audience in terms of fashion trends and would appeal to the male audience due to the sexual connotations.

Dominant ideologies which follow the target audience of the Hiphop genre which I challenged:

                                  Smoking cannabis

                                     Graffiti-

I challenged both of these conventions by not incorporating any of the two aspects in the creation of my music magazine. I felt smoking cannabis was a negative representation of the consumers of Hiphop; I wanted to break this convention and incorporate positive attributes which the target audience follow instead. I felt that graffiti did not hold any relevance to a music magazine therefore did not feel it appropriate to include. I wanted my target audience to be completely based on the music aspect of Hiphop with an influence of the fashion too therefore I created all of the features on my contents page in relation to music or fashion.

 

A dominant ideology which follow the target audience of the Hiphop genre which I supported:

Fashion; 

For the male audience I connoted sex through the clothes than the females in my magazine wore and I incorporated a conventional item of footwear to attract them- 'HIGH TOPS' on my contents page. For the female audience, I incorporated current fashion trends in order to attract them.

Q7- Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you think you have learnt in the progression from it to your full product?

Below is a PhotoSnack presentation I created to support the points on image and stylistic features made in all four parts of the video's above. Through the presentation, you can recognise the lack of editing skills on my main image for my student magazine in comparrison to the wide range of editing skills applied on the main image for my music magazine. You can also see general stylistic developments made from my initial task to my music magazine through text and layout/positioning. My music magazinefront cover has a lot more thought in response to my target audience and over-all is more attractive and appealing. Regardless of this, I am very glad that I created an initial task before my music magazine otherwise I would not have anything to develop and learn from to ensure I created the music magazine to the best of my ability.

Q6- What have I learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Technologies used in my music magazine:

Conventions of technology which I used and developed played a big part in my music magazine. Through my research of the music magazine industry, I discovered that technology was a significant aspect in the promotional side of music magazines and this was partly because music as a genre is accessed through different technology. I found out that music magazines used technology to promote and expand their companies; whether it was conventions of apps available on smart phones, digital subscriptions of magazine issues or just promoting their online version of their magazine through their print version, music magazine companies are hugely benefited by incorporating technology. They are able to provide their target audience with an easily accessible way to consume their magazine benefiting consumers in terms of providing them with an extra method of consumption whilst also increasing the amount of consumers benefiting the business in terms of profitability. I also used technology in the construction of my product which benefitted the overall look + style of my finished product.

I was influenced by the promotion to the right which I found on NME'S website. I discovered that Smart phone apps became a convention in the majority of music magazines therefore I wanted to incorporate this type of technology in my product. However I wanted to develop this convention used by NME, by incorporating an app with relation to my artist, Tyra in my music magazine. I was inspired by the use of VIBE's app to the left, promoting a music mixer available on Smart Phones therefore I used this particular convention by creating a music mixer app however I developed it by completely associating the app with my artist instead of the music magazine in general. I created a Smart Phone app called 'TYRA'S TUNE OVERLOAD APP' which acts as a music mixer but with Tyra's music. To the left, is the design of my app that I used on my double page spread alongside the article of Tyra. I used bright and bold colours in the design of my music app to follow conventions of the VIBE music app, in particular yellow. I admired the colour scheme and felt that it would be suitable to use on my double page spread to contrast with the white background. I used blue to also contrast with the white background as well as the yellow. I chose a speaker for the design of my app and created a reflecting effect to make it look appealing and interesting. I was inspired by the use of speaker by the type of speaker used on the VIBE app. Here is a reminder of my double page spread:

I positioned this app at the bottom of the page, to act as an extra to the article promoting the artist further. By incorporating this type of technology I felt that I would be benefiting my consumers as well as my artist by making the consumers feel familiar with the 'norms' of technology that they are used too in magazines with the same genre e.g VIBE. 

I then incorporated technology on my contents page and was inspired by conventions of subscriptions promoted through technology. Like the image of NME'S promotion of subscriptions, I wanted to create a subscription similar and I felt that the contents page was the best place to locate it. NME have created a subscription package for consumers to access their magazine on their home computers, laptops or iPads making it easily accessible for consumers. This convention which has been displayed in many music magazines e.g Vibe and Substream and as seen in the image above, NME and is what inspired me to use it in my magazine to ensure my magazine benefited as well as my consumers. Here is the subscription I promoted:

       SUBSCRIBE TO Superior

Get 12 editions monthly of Superior on your 

smart phone, laptop or home computer for a yearly subscription of £28.68! 

Get a digital edition of Superior's monthly release available on all smart phones and save by  60p at just 2.39!

I wanted to use the convention as seen in NME by incorporating one digital issue price and a yearly subscription however I wanted to develop this convention by incorporating smart phones as part of the promotion as I felt that just having computers and the iPad like the NME package, was limiting the appeal as people, in particular my target audience of a new generation, are becoming more mobile with most things and would allow my subscription package to be even more accessible if individuals were able to access it my magazine through their smart phones.

Technologies I used to construction of my magazine:

InDesign:

I used this program for the construction of the three creations of my music magazine, front cover, contents and double page spread. I also created my flat plans for each design using this program for brief guidelines for me to follow when it came to creating the final designs. I found the program difficult to use in the beginning but once I had a few practices and played around with the different tools I soon got used to it and was comfortable processing certain skills onto my three creations. I used the colour swatch tool to create shades of colour for the text on my double page spread; I created the particular grey I used for the answer text on the article and a particular red for the 'T' in the masthead and the questions text I also created the column for my article to sit in using the column tool. I found this really useful as it allowed me to specifically choose the width and length of the column. I could also do this for the margin spacing on each of the three creations, it allowed me to create small margin spacing so I could fit everything that I aimed to put on. It also provided me with a tool to create frames around images on my double page spread to suggest a fun and quirky look whilst also letting me rotate images to the extent I wanted. Over all I learnt that InDesign is a very helpful way of producing material in a professional and realistic form and includes the appropriate tools for a good finished product.

Photoshop:

I used Photoshop for all of the images that I have used for all three creations, apart from the three small images on my double page spread as I was satisfied with the original images straight off the camera. I used photoshop to create a white background for the main image of my artist on my double page spread by using a colour in tool; although this was a time consuming effort, the over-all look of the finished product was worth the time rather than a messy and un-neat finished product which I would of gained if I was to of used Paint. Photoshop also provides tools which edit the colour scheme of images; I increased the brightness and contrast of my main image on my double page spread to gain a sharper and more dramatic look. I also used the program to create a black background for both of the images on my contents page; yet again this was time consuming, yet I was really pleased with the over-all finish of the images, in particular the one of the duo 'CLONED'- I gained a really neat finish in and around the second artists hair as the program allowed me to zoom in as much as I needed to see what I was doing properly as well as allowing me to get the exact colour of her hair, applying it to the tool's brush and colouring it in to gain a perfect match. I also used the program to create the green colour scheme through-out the image on the front cover; the program enabled me to increase the green to the extent I wanted it whilst also allowing me to increase yellow tones through the image. Overall I found Photoshop very useful, although I had to be patient at times, I was comfortable and aware of its tools as I had used it before. This program also taught me that with the appropriate editing tools you can completely change the look, style and message of a particular image; this was what was most beneficial for me.

Q3- What media institution would distribute your product?

Q3

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Q2- How does my media product represent particular social groups

Representations of social groups within my music magazine

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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.

Front cover- Final design;

Here is my completed final design of my front cover. I have added in the date and price of the issue and have created this in black font to stand out upon the green colour of her hair. I have also rotated the text to the right for it to contrast with the unrotated text on the rest of the page; I have also made this text the smallest on the page to follow conventions of a typical magazine and because I feel it holds the least importance as consumers would know where to look  if wanting to know the price of my magazine. I have positioned this text in the right corner to fill in this empty space after I had moved 'CLONED TAKING IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL'. I have repositioned the cover-lines so they all stand on the left hand of the page- I did this to gain a more organised layout and style on the cover and to also allow their to be space for another cover-line on the right hand side of the page. I have chosen to reference an article which I have presented on my contents page on my front cover- 'UPCOMING TOUR DATES 2012'. I felt that this reference within my magazine would add to my front cover by performing as a persuasive device; I have rotated it fully to the right so it appears down the right hand side of the page to contrast with the other styles of text on the page. I then took out the '//'    '.'     '-'  which I originally was going to situate around each cover-line design as I felt that it was unnecessary and appeared to busy. I then changed the font colour of my tag-line to black to compliment the black font on 'UP COMING..,' and the price and date; I felt that it contrasted with the grey font of the title design also. I kept to the same positioning of the bar code as seen in my first attempt as it filled in an empty space as if I was to put it on the other side it would of covered up the ends of her hair.