RECCE

When deciding where to take my photos, I thought that it would be best to have a plain background for my music magazine front cover. I had already decided the colour themes and style of the location prior to actually taking my photos.

I feel that the colour blue in particular is associated with both depth and stability as well as the stereotypical male perspective of hip-hop as a musical genre. If you look at my final front cover, you will see that I have used a similar brick-effect for the background, this is because I wanted the effect of the cover to be realistic. Also, many other hip hop music magazines such as XXI have used a similar theme, so I felt it would be highly appropriate.

Evaluation

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

For my final front cover, I wanted it to come across authentic with a hint of outlaw to match the title of 'Renegade'. The word 'Renegade' itself connotes a person who betrays and organisation or set of principles and is in their own respect dangerous. I feel that this fits perfectly with the common representations of the hip-hop music culture and I wanted this to reflect through my magazine front cover. Therefore I decided to ask my models (Aaron and Cameron) to position themselves in a manner that conveys this non-caring attitude. This has been shown through the body language of the people on the cover. Both males are leaning against the brick wall behind them, conveying their relaxed, care free attitude. The emotionless facial expressions that they are portraying also fits well with the unworried stance that is being represented. If you look closely at the people on the cover itself, you may notice that only one model is looking directly at the camera. The direct eye contact and folded arms creates a sense of defence that I also feel fits well with the tone of the magazine. Most hip-hop magazine front covers convey a similar barrier of defence between the audience and the people on the cover, which I think automatically puts the magazine or genre of music on a higher level compared to other music magazine genres such as 'indie'.

I placed the bar code in the bottom right corner so that no attention is withdrawn from the main focus of the magazine. Although I have not included a price on my magazine, I think that £.01.19 is the correct price for 'Renegade' to be sold at. I say this because I want the magazine itself to appeal to all kinds of people that love this genre of music regardless of income. I decided to place the names of the talent on the cover in the same manner as a currently famous icon in the hip-hop culture to reinforce the reality of the magazine. Most current hip-hop music magazines use the same font throughout the entire front cover. Although I have stuck with a main font, I thought that it would be a good idea to use a font called 'learning curve' to emphasise the key information that I want my audience to notice on the magazine cover. Examples of this are 'Drake and Jhene' and 'the greatest'. I thought that highlighting powerful words would reassure my audience that there is no other culture like hip-hop.

I feel that my music magazine challenges other, real music magazines because I have used a different style and colour scheme to other music magazines. If you look at famous hip hop magazines such as 'VIBE' or 'XXL' you may notice that they seem to splash many various colours and themes on their music magazine covers. However, this is not the approach that I wanted my magazine to take. I feel that using a cool, blue tone throughout creates a sense of stability and collectivity. I feel that using too many colours could confuse the audience and make the page look unappealing. The dullness of the page allows the title RENEGADE to stand out even further and I feel that keeping one colour scheme throughout each cover of any form of publication can make the magazine more recognisable to the audiences.

I think that my music magazine may develop other music magazines because I have decided to include many famous hip hop artists names on my cover. This contrasts with many other successful music magazines because they only tend to feature one popular name on the front cover. However this was not the approach that I wanted my magazine to take. I feel that using many current artists will attract a wider audience and create an intended theme of freedom. Going against other typical front covers also goes in the line with the consistent reckless theme that I have tried to portray throughout my entire production, like I have repeated many times.

Evaluation

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

Here is my previous magazine front cover that I had created for my preliminary task.

Looking back at this magazine front cover that I had created previously, I have realised how much goes into constructing a text to a deadline. I have noticed some vital features that should have been included, like a bold title that stands out. My title and font of this magazine front cover is not particularly appealing and does not do a successful job of engaging and sustaining the audience. I fee that this would be a major issue if this was my final magazine front cover, as it is significantly important to make sure the cover actually looks like a magazine. Magazines such as XX1 and VIBE do as great job of making the front cover look as attractive as possbile so that a wide as possible audience is attracted.I think that I should have used a red-toned photo, or remove the picture altogether. I have learnt that it is extremely important that everything on the cover of any magazine fits together and works properly. This includes the text, people and images that may be included. Another thing that I think I should have considered, and nw will always consider is the photos and text on the cover. As you can see, on my front cover my red text seems to overlap the image. Although in some cases this can be effective in making the writing stand out and linking the image and text together, if the colour doesn't reflect correctly off of the photo it can look messy and can look improper (like my magaziune above) 

The title of my magazine does not flow in line with the rest of the font on the front cover. This is because I have used different fonts throughout. In my final music magazine front cover I ensured that I used the same font on the entire page, so that the magazine looks stable and united. After doing some research  and looking at other magazines that are similar to the one that I have created, I have also noticed that it is exceedingly important that the title stands out to the readers more than anything else on the page. This is to ensure that readers of the magazine, or passers by in a shop remember your magazine so that it becomes popular. Despite using clear, readable font, I feel that the text that I have used on this cover should have been more spaced out to ensure that no writing withdraws any attention from the talent on the cover. 

Here is my final music magazine front cover for a Hip-hop style production.

As you can see I have ensured that my title stands out the most, I have done so by making the text spread completely across the top of the page, rather than be placed into the top left corner like in my previous example. I decided to remain with the house style and keep the same font of 'Freshman' for the majority of the page, however you have probably noticed that I have used an italic, slightly feminine font to emphasize the vital features that will be included in my magazine that I would like to stand out to my audience. I also thought that it would be a good idea to mix up the colour scheme when it same to the text, to ensure that the writing is also appropriate for the style magazine that I am creating, and to create a more stimulating relationship with readers of the magazine. After looking at other popular magazine front covers, I noticed that other companies include little information on the covers of their music magazines. I suppose that this may be greatly to do with companies not wanting to give too much information out at once, as this will mean that less people will purchase the magazine. I have learnt that less means more and I wanted the image on the cover stand out to the readers and speak for itself. I made sure that the text did not cover any part of the main focus on my cover ( West side boys ) so that no attention is taken away from what I would like people to concentrate on the most.

I wanted to include relevant names of up and coming as well as current, popular artists so that I engage and sustain the audiences attention. Hip hop as a category has a wide range of artists that generate quite a few various types of music, therefore I feel that it is increasingly important that this extensive dimension of soul is communicated to the urban followers of Hip hop. Working to a deadline takes a lot of dedication and allows me to think of ideas rapidly so that I can practice and test out different photos and colours in order to decide which features will fit correctly with the magazine that I would like to create. After looking at other magazines, I finally managed to construct a final documentation that I am most pleased with.

Evaluation

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

I think that due to the wide audience age range, my audience will be mass as opposed to niche.
I feel that Bauer publishing are most likely to publish my magazine as opposed to IPC. I say this because I found that Bauer publishing are very popular in issuing magazines. As I feel that my magazine would fit into the mass category due to its wide age range, I feel that this publishing company in particular would be the most appropriate in producing 'Renegade' as the targeted audience is a vast spread of people.
I discovered that Bauer publishing produce a lot of popular magazines that are based around favoured and current news, and I think that this supports my magazine as 'Renegade' only includes up to date and applicable information on the latest information about artists that are popular today.

After doing some research I uncovered that IP imagine publishing company issue many niche magazines. Some examples of niche magazines are 'Girl Glam' and 'Seventeen'.

 

These magazines are niche, because they only appeal to a particular group of people (potentially young girls that are interested in fashion and makeup). This is not how I would like my magazine to be represented as I feel that Hip- hop applies to anyone who enjoys the music regardless of age or gender. This is why, in my music magazine I have tried to refrain from following the typical rules of magazines such as 'one artist per page rule' and have attempted to attract a wide as possible audience range so that my magazine does not just apply to one particular group of people, and therefore does not become niche.

Evaluation (Technology)

Evaluation

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My product represents both male and female (even though it gives males power) teenagers and middle aged urban followers of the hip hop culture. After looking into my target audience further, I realised that hip hop has a distinct type of people that are likely to like this kind of music. These people are regular, dedicated hip hop lovers and are often well to do, open minded people. I feel that as a nation we have left it up to media to represent many different groups of people. Therefore I did not want to represent hip hop followers in a negative light, or influence them in a unfavourable manner. Hence, I chose to disregard some of the typical complications that come with liking hip hop music in my magazine. I also think that drugs, sex and alcohol are a typical notion when people think of the hip hop genre. So for this reason I deliberately conveyed no sign of illegal substances on my cover, so that I refrain from influencing the younger generation of the hip hop followers. 

I think that Hip hop as a genre is unique as there is no set criteria that an individual has to meet in order to be considered a 'fan of hip hop'. Hip hop allows people to express their feelings and emotions as well as relate to certain artists and music. Having said this, I am highly aware of the common stereotypes that are associated with this genre of music which is why I chose to not include some of the negative influences in a vigorous light. I think that Rock music followers have a typical, more distinct standard that a person would be expected to meet before the individual could consider themselves a fan of that genre of music, which is why hip hop and rock music represent different social groups altogether.

Evaluation

How did you attract/ address your audience?

On my magazine front cover, I have included aspects such as sell lines and information about the most famous hip hop artists that only 'Renegade' can reveal. I have done so by using captivating language and making the front cover of my magazine only include relevant information, as I feel that including too much will withdraw the audience from looking at the cover for too long, which is not ideal.
After taking into consideration all of the key features about my target audience, I wanted to include things on my magazine that I think they would like. As I would fit into my target audience, I felt that the most efficient way to do this was by formulating the cover to meet the criteria that would appeal to myself. Therefore my music magazine front cover has many exceedingly popular artists mentioned that I personally would listen to and want keep up to date with. Some of these include; Drake, Jhene Aiko and Kanye West.

I figured that if I want my target audience to physically purchase my magazine I need to keep the cover simple and not reveal too much information in one go. This is why I only gave brief outlines of the highlights of what would be included in the magazine, so that I not only attract the audiences attention, but keep them engaged, sustained and want to find out more (by purchasing the magazine). I felt that it was also important to include information that would be specific to the hip hop culture only, otherwise my magazine would not belong to a particular group of people and I wanted to ensure that my front cover was distinct to hip hop and refrain it from being generalised in any way.

I also ensured that my images and language on the cover of my music magazine itself fit and work together. If you look closely at my magazine front cover you will see the words 'the best' written in italics. I wanted my magazine front cover to reflect not only a daring/unaffected attitude but I also wanted it to portray an element of supremacy. I felt that the best way to communicate this to the audience was through the body language of the people on the cover of my magazine,  I say this because the photo on the cover is the first thing that the audience will see, even before the text that I have also included. I felt that making my talent cross their arms would not only convey the non caring attitude that 'Renegade' reflects, but I felt that this would create a barrier between the audience and the people on the cover. I did not intend for this barrier to be permanent, but I wanted the audience to feel as though reading the magazine would enable to them to cross the line and therefore be on the same level as the people on the magazine as a result.