QUESTION 2 : HOW DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT REPRESENT PARTICULARSOCIAL GROUPS?

Q2 : HOW DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT REPRESENT PARTICULARSOCIAL GROUPS?
      

The target audience for my music magazine is teenagers – both female and male genders who are pop listeners. I represented this particular social group by using images that are used in my music magazine.  The first thing I did is I choose models that represent the social groups that I’m targeting which this was two females that are aged 16 and 17.

Also it is important the way you present your music magazine, the front cover is the first element to attract the particular social group that i'm aiming for . Which it is crucial the way the models are dressed and also the way they are posed, which this would make it clear for those who read pop magazine to pick up my music magazine form the shelf.

 Firstly i have taken a long shot camera angle . This is because the image (front cover) should be attractive and be suitable for the audience social group that i am aiming for. I have chosen pink color tones of clothing for my models this is because the magazine’s genre is pop. The two models are wearing ; the one on the left is wearing a hot pink tunic style top with black leggings and the one on the right is wearing a soft pink jumper that has a writing on it saying ‘smile’ she is also wearing a black leggings underneath the jumper. This look creates a feminine stereotypical pop female artist like ‘Katy Perry’. In addition not only the clothes creates a feminine look but also the jewelleries on the model gives that feminine style. Similarly the clothing and accessories is quite fashionable and also is linked to the concept, links to the genre of the music magazine.  

The tattoo on the models arm is presented in my shot because I wanted to attract the eye of my target audiences and could be from any social group. The tattoo is in Chinese  which this can relate to any ethnic group. The pose of the models can look like RnB but it is a pop magazine so I made the two female models pose in a position that they look feminine attractive but also dominant and masculine.   

                                                                                                                               

MUSIC MAGAZINE EVALUATION QUESTION 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Q1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

From the beginning of the course I have looked at 2 music magazine front covers to get some ideas of how my magazine would look. Also I have analysed magazine and presented the conventions to see who they were targeting .In my music magazine I have used some ideas from popular music magazines, I’ve kept it simply looking but did not spoil the realism in the magazine. My making my masthead stand out with the colour red from the rest of the magazine text it make it stand out and attractive too my target audiences. The font used is impact, I choose this font because it gives a modern style and it’s relevant the theme and genre of the magazine, and also I fell that is more suitable to my target audience. Moreover another recognisable conventions I used is placing the masthead behind the models, I did this so it looks professional and better, attractive.

The magazine style I was trying to follow is ‘vibe’ music magazine, although ‘vibe’ magazine is hip-hop and RnB music and my music magazine is pop I used similar structuring. In order to follow the conventions of a music magazine I used barcode and dateline to show this, also some music magazine place there dateline just under the masthead or top of the barcode, I decided mine to go on top of the barcode, to make it stand out.

 Furthermore, to fully attract my target audiences I had to use cover lines which is another convention generally used in magazine as they give a close view or idea what will be in the magazine and what will attract my target audiences. My covers lines are short plain but eye – catching. I have used the same font to not make the magazine look busy but I have made it bold so it can stand out and also so you can tell that is a cover line. My cover lines are just under they main image on the right side of the magazine this is because I wanted my magazine to look simply and easy to read. Moreover usually music magazine are vertically and they arrange there cover lines on the left hand side of the magazine to attract audience , but personally the cover lines should be placed either left or right , this is because of the image you use on your front cover . I’ve used two models which I placed them in the centre while taking the shot this is because I planned that my cover lines will look better on the right hand side, which this would stop the magazine front cover looking busy.

Disparity, those popular conventions of a music magazine is to use medium close up shot as a dominant image, but again it depends on the genre of the music magazine and theme. My music magazine is pop so I used medium/long close up to focus more on the image. Which this will attract more attention for pop music lovers.

My contents page also followed and has been developed conventions used in real music magazines. First of all I included different image, which this is used widely in conventions in real magazines, this is also used because it brings different issues and does not focus on one news and relates to the magazine and what will be in it. This would help the readers to decide if they want to continue to read the magazine or not. To attract my audience I have only used two images and made my contents page look simply and easy to read.

Furthermore, I also included categories that I arranged vertically around the page; this made the page look professional and also made me use the space of the page correctly, it looks organised and neat so which this makes it easy to read.

Differently in my double page spread and did not want to follow and use conventions, this is because I wanted to create my own style it still looks professional and its similar to other real double page spreads but I just wanted to create the layout myself. Also I wanted to link my double page spread to my front and contents page , I did this by keeping the colour theme similar but not the same this is because I wanted my target audience to see different style in one magazine. The double page looks modern and professional I did this by arranging my article on the left hand side with a stand out and the Headline was on the right hand side which this made me again use the space on the page neatly and made the page look simple. Also I used both left and right side of the page for the article to help me attract my audience because it made it eye catching and different from other articles.

 

 

Music magazine cover, contents page and double page spread

These are the final images of my music magazine (pop) ,contents page and double page spread. 

audience research, rouge reader

The ROUGE! Reader:  Jessie, 16, lives in Manchester currently in her first year at university, her hobbies are: leisure time, fashion sense and lifestyle. She engages with music 24/7, from the minute she wakes up and falls asleep with music. While not listening to music Jessie revises for her exams coming up or goes out with her friends/shopping or goes cinema. Jessie loves going to concerts her likes listening to hip-hop pop music the most. The way Jessie looks is she is casual and likes creating her own style to look unique.

Music magazine front cover drafts

These are my four music magazine front covers and contents page drafts, also i have two drafts for my double page.

Audience Research BBM

For my music magazine my main task is to conduct some audience research in planning and research. The target audience i'm aimed at is teenagers that use bbm  and aged 16-22 years etc...

Textual Analysis for vibe music magazine front page

VIBE is the front cover of magazine that is going to annotate, this is because it’s a popular music magazine, and also on the front cover it has the Pop and R&B singer Janet Jackson. Also this fits to the genre of the music magazine I am going to do. Furthermore VIBE is a popular music magazine that is published in the U.S and has a high seller of the magazine.

Denotation:                                                                                                                                         The magazine has a pop and R&B singer that is directly looking at the camera. It is a medium shot, showing her head, arms and waist. It looks like she is standing up and posing to the camera. The background of the image is pale light cream which its match with the masthead VIBE. Also the image covers the whole of the magazine, it’s at the centre of the magazine and the writings or cover lines surrounded around her. On top of the image of the magazine the is the VIBE the masthead which is behind her head, Also the image covers the whole of the magazine.  There is a cover-line in black bold font. The image of the women or singers name is in the top right hand corner of the magazine¸ the colour of the cover – line is in a blue font and white border.

Masthead:

VIBE’s masthead is very feminine and attractive: the sweet blue font suits with the other font colours on the front page. The font used is a ‘FRANKLIN’. The VIBE magazine represents new modern music and moreover it’s a pop/hip-hop/R&N music magazine and comes from a American culture.  Also the Coverline ‘hip hop paparazzi’ relates to the main image (Janet Jackson) because she is a hip hop singer therefore it could show that the genre for this published magazine is hip hop. The words ‘Angel Lola Luvs big beauty’ the word ‘Luvs’ is written is slang which this could tell that the magazine uses slang therefore to fit in the hip hop style.

Character:  The cover photograph of the VIBE magazine Janet Jackson which is a successful hip hop singer in America.

Composition: she is posed in a very feminine way, her pose, body language shows that is a American pop/hip hop singer.

Costume: her clothing is a plain white vest and her bottoms looks like a jean shorts underneath she is wearing a black holes top which looks very seductive and her hand position shows this clearly. Also she has a style which this can promote her new music style. Her hair is wavy and left out which shows her young then she is.

Setting: the photograph was taken in a photography studio because the background is plain

Cover-lines:  The main cover-line that relates to her photograph says ‘Janet Jackson: like to watch’. Also the ‘the first ever photo issues’ relate to the prop that Janet Jackson is using which is a camera. Moreover there is other hip hop singers name mentioned in the cover-line which is ‘Rihanna: exposed’ which this relates to the genre of the magazine and also tells some other singers news as well.

Target audience: the target audience for the VIBE magazine is teenagers and mainly females. This is because of the style the main image is in young style way also the age would be 16 -25 years old, also the target audience is likely to be well educated / well read and interested in American popular culture.