Evaluation

1. My music magazine had to follow specific types of magazine conventions so that it would look real and have real features. On the front page I looked at the different types of hip-hop magazines and looked at what types of camera shots they used and saw that a majority used a mid-shot but when there were groups on the front page the shot was usually a long-shot. The layout of the front cover was similar to a couple of hip-hop magazines that I looked at. There was a mid-shot image with cover lines on the left and right of it, there is a strap line above the mast head which was at the top of the cover. The tone of the front cover had to follow the genre of the music magazine, which is hip-hop and we had to make sure that it reached the target group as well. We had to make sure that we used the right figures of speech and the right terminology so that the audience would understand the text on the front page and especially in the feature article and be familiar with certain words. Because our genre was hip-hop we had to make sure the the model had certain props so that it would be cohesive with the rest magazine.

2. As the genre of my music magazine is hip-hop I to make sure that all the models I used were representing the hip-hop culture. The artists on my front cover is very known to hip-hop fans so we looked at how he posed for other music magazines, we had to look at his facial expression which varied from being aggressive to smiling to looking nonchalant and by looking at most magazines we found that there facial expressions were more vigorous. We also looked at their body language which was usually showing an “I don’t care” attitude, where they would be leaning against a wall or sitting slumped over on a chair. Props also help with representation where that could be carrying a knife to represent violence on the streets and so on. We had our model look as if he’s leaning against something and had to get his facial expression to show a laid back attitude whilst also looking stern and serious. We had the model wearing shows that represented the hip-hop culture, which was baggy clothing and New York hat, all the colors matched and we made sure that earning was showing as we noticed that most hip-hop artists had their ear pierced. The target audience were mainly boys aged between 15 and 18, although some of the target audience where boys girls seemed interested so we had to make the magazine look more masculine than feminine, we did this by making the colours more masculine and by having information on the front cover that would appeal more to boys. By doing some background research on T. I we found that although he is very street wise he is smart so throughout the feature article we had to make sure that we represented him in this way. We did this by asking suitable questions with answers that would get the reader to realize this too.

3. Magazine publishers that look at the genre of hip-hop conventions. The music magazines that I looked at were Vibe who is distributed by Time Inc. I also looked at King Magazine who is distributed by Harris Publications. The Source magazine was originally distributed by David Mays and Jon Shecter from their dorm room whilst in university. I think that my magazine would’ve been distributed by these guys because it is a magazine with the same audience who are interested in the hip-hop culture, fashion, music and technology.

4. The audience for my music magazine would be anyone, but mainly guys aged between 15-18 who are really interested the hip-hop culture and always want to be up to date with the latest news. Boys who are interested in the latest fashion and trends and want to know what everyone is wearing. Also people who like high tech gadgets and what’s new to buy. This is because people like to have a reliable source of information knowing exactly what is in and what is out.

5. If my target audience saw my music magazine on a shelf I think that the masthead would attract them the most because it is in a big thick font with a bright colour and thick outline. The colour scheme is very attractive as everything matches and the layout of the front cover is simple, which makes it easy to read and understand. There is only one image so the audience knows who the magazine is targeting for that issue. Little snippets of stories that is in the magazine would attract them as they would want to read more and find out who’s doing what

6. Whilst making this product the main type of software I used was Photoshop, InDesign and Microsoft Word. Out of all them I found that using InDesign was difficult as I have never used this to create any form of document. However throughout the ending of the project I became used to certain things I had to use buy trial and error which made it easy to use. If I was to use this again I would most probably still have to ask for help with certain things. I didn’t’t really enjoy using it because there was so much stuff I had to remember to use before I could do anything like clicking on the cursor icon before could continue what I was doing which was frustrating I kept on forgetting to do it, but using it for my magazine made the task easy to do. I’m used to using Microsoft word so that was not a problem and I have used Photoshop in the past so I could mange with changing the pictures and so on okay. I dint really learn a lot which using InDesign because it is similar to Microsoft Word.

7. Looking at my preliminary task to my magazine I have seen a huge amount of progress. My music magazine actually looks real as my other one didn’t’t look it as much. I have a wider understanding of how music magazines are produced and know that it is not an easy thing to achieve but looking at my ending results I can see a big improvement and I’m very happy with my finishing product. Mistakes that were made in my first task like uploading pictures and getting them to look right on the page and so on. I was really struggling to get the pictures to look less stretched out and more appealing. I also managed to get colour co-ordination to make a difference because it made it look more professional and appealing. I don’t think that I managed my time correctly as I seemed to always be rushing around making sure certain things were completed so that I could continue and go further. But in the end I managed to finish completing them. I realized that am not very good at keeping deadlines and need to make sure that I complete the tasks as soon as I get them. I worked well with my group, better than I thought I would as we all set assignments for ourselves. The Photoshop went well as we all picked what images we were going to use. I found that this task was much easier than the preliminary task because was working in a group and learning skills and relevant information from the others.