Music Magazine Evaluation

Mica Ross- Harris

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

Masthead - in bright red font

Main image

Main cover line anchoring the main image.

Red, black and white colour scheme – creating a house style

Barcode, price, issue number

Banner summarising what's inside, follows house style colours

Similarities and Differences - Front Cover

Both front covers have similarities and differences, both covers have a bright red masthead at the top of the page, this introduces the house style colours for the magazines and the colour is repeated throughout the page along with white and black. Both covers have a black male rapper as the main image, to demonstrate the hip hop genre of the magazine. Both covers also have the main headline anchoring the main image, this keeps the cover organised and clear to read and understand.

Some differences of the covers are that the RWD cover has 3 cover lines where as my cover only has one main cover line anchoring the image, this is because I want it to look simple and not too busy. The RWD cover uses white font as their main cover line because they have a black background where as I couldn’t use white font because my background was white too, so it wouldn’t of stood out or looked eye catching. My cover has a banner at the bottom of the page where as the RWD doesn’t have any of those features, it doesn’t have a flash or a banner. I used a banner to just summarise what is inside the magazine.

Main images filling the whole top of the page

Page summary in bold ‘impact’ font

Smaller font underneath going into more detail

Page numbers in a different font from the rest to make them stand out

House style colours repeated

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

Page is split in half horizontally, text is split into vertical columns

Similarities and Differences - Contents

Both contents have a very similar layout, pictures at the top half of the page and two columns of text at the bottom. Both contents have impact text as the page summaries, and then smaller writing underneath going into more detail about what content is on that page. Both contents have page numbers next to each page summary so that it is clear for the reader to see what is on each page.

Some differences of the contents pages are that my colour scheme is more eye catching and fits the hip hop genre, where as the other contents keeps the colours to a minimal (black and white). The source contents has used one big image at the top and a little image at the bottom right corner where as I have used two images at the top of the place split vertically to contrast with the columns of writing.

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

Grab quote – quotes in better copy to draw attention to important quotes

Main Image on the left hand side of the page.

Question and answer format

Columns

Bright red boxes to attract attention and splits the stand first from the rest of the copy.

Main image reflecting what the article is about – the article is about Dizzee’s troubled past

Images of smashed bottles to blend into the graffiti background.

Main image is related to the article – both articles are interviews/information about the person in the image.

Large black sans serif font as the main heading

Similarities and Differences – Double Page Spread

Both double page spread have a similar layout, they both have a main image of a black male rap artist, this is who the article is mainly about. They both have this image filling the whole left half of the page, and then the writing on the right side in columns. Both Double page spread use large black sans serif font as the main heading to draw attention to it and make it bold and eye-catching.

Some differences in the double page spreads, my double page spread has a grab quote to draw attention the some of the more important parts of the interview, where as the dizzee rascal double page spread has a drop cap at the beginning of the article to draw the readers eye there. These are both different ways of drawing the reader into the actual article instead of just looking at the images and colours on the page. My double page spread also has a by line in bright red boxes to reinforce the house style colour I created in the contents and cover, where as the dizzee rascal double page spread has a smaller less obvious by line in bold font as opposed to the rest of the copy which is in normal font, this makes it stand out more but isnt the main focus of the page.

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

When doing my magazine I was aiming to target it at young people from the age 14-24 who are interested in hip hop music. This typically would be black males, so I thought it was best to get a photograph of a black male rapper to reinforce the genre of my magazine. I think by sticking to the stereotype of hip hop, my magazine would appeal to the audience I was aiming for. I concentrated my magazine on males purely because I think that from my research males are the larger target audience for this type of magazine, although I included some female artists in the contents page to show that hip hop is now becoming more popular with females and more so a white audience. I think my magazine portrays young people as people who listen to this kind of music and like things like bright colours, festivals, clubbing etc. I think this is a fair portrayal as it is only viewed as a negative to some other social groups. For example elderly people would be an example of people who have this opinion of young people.

On my front cover, I wanted to represent a young black male rapper who I knew would appeal to the target audience I was aiming for. The fact that he is wearing black red and white meant that I could introduce my house style colours, also these colours are associated with a young, hip hop genre. Also the phrase ‘YMCMB’ is commonly recognised as a hip hop/R&B music label. The model in the photo looks as though he is happy and proud of his work, which links in with the content of the article, it also reinforces that hip hop is a young, fun genre. The bright colours I used also reinforces the young target audience and theme of my magazine, it draws people in and would make them want to buy and read the rest of the magazine. I have represented young rappers in this cover as happy, and ‘having fun’ as the model looks like he is laughing and is happy.

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

On my contents page I used two images, one of a white male who is dressed in stereotypical hip hop clothes. I used this image to show that hip hop genre doesn’t just include black males, it also can be targeted at a white audience. The model in this photo has a more serious, aggressive expression as apposed to the happy, laughing expression the model on the front cover had. This shows a contrast between young peoples attitudes and the aggressive expression is reinforced by the connotations of red. I also used an image of some decks, to reinforce the music theme and edited the image to purple and green to fit in with the genre of the magazine. I wanted my contents page to represent young people which I think I achieved with the colours added on the image of the decks, and also the clothes the model is wearing in the other picture are widely recognised brands with young people. This means young people can relate to my magazine and are more likely to understand the content.

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The artists I have used in the contents page are majority black artists, this is because from my research of hip hop music I found that the majority of the hip hop audience are black males, I wanted to appeal to the audience that would buy my magazine, if I designed a magazine aimed at white males, it might not sell as well. I did mention a white hip hop artist ‘Katy B’ I did this because I wanted to show that although the history of hip hop is mainly black people, there are increasing numbers of white hip hop artists and I wanted that to be recognised within my magazine. With the images I used, I did focus the

images on a black male who was representing a rapper, I also focused my article on him too. Although in the contents I didn’t include an image of a white male to again represent the change in hip hop audience and show that although it is dominated by black males, they are not the only audience type.

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

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

IPC distribute the magazines above, these are the magazines that are aimed at their women audience. “IPC's diverse print and digital portfolio offers something for everyone, with a focus on three core audiences: men, mass market women and upmarket women.” IPC state on their website that their magazines are largely aimed at a women audience. The list of women's magazines on the IPC website consist of: LOOK, NOW, WOMAN, Chat, Marie Claire, Soap Life, Woman & Home, Woman's Own, Woman's Weekly.

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

IPC distribute the magazines above, these are the magazines that are aimed at their male audience. “Our men's portfolio (IPC Inspire) comprises a wealth of leisure brands including NME, Rugby World, Horse&Hound and Country Life” IPC state on their website quite clearly that their male audience isn't their mass audience but it does provide the male audience with a range of magazines. The most popular male magazine published by IPC is NME, this is also a music magazine that could share the same target audience as my magazine.

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

Bauer distribute a wider range of music magazines compared to IPC, IPC have a focus on women's magazines where as Bauer has a wide range of all genres. The music magazines Bauer distribute are 4music, smash hits, kiss, kerrang, Q, the hits. Because of this you would think that Bauer distributing my magazine wouldn’t be a good idea but looking at the genre of all of their music magazines, none of them are hip hop. They are all rock and pop magazines. This would mean that within the Bauer company my magazine wouldn’t have any inside competition whereas within the IPC company my magazine would have inside competition against NME, one of the best selling music magazines. I would choose Bauer to distribute my magazine because of this reason and also I know that they are successful and have a lot of experience with knowing when and how to distribute music magazines, Also the genre of my magazine doesn’t already exist within the company so there isa chance they might require a hip hop music magazine.