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Evaluations

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

My media product conforms too many of the conventions set out by previous R&B genre based music magazines, such as Vibe Magazine.

For example many R&B magazines such as Vibe, have short and bold titles, these titles are easy to remember, and they also tend to be buzz words that relate to the genre. R&B is Rhythm and Blues, and in my opinion and my own interpretation is, what differentiates this genre is its instrumental tune, the beat tends to be slow and calm, rather than aggressive and fast. This is why I called my magazine Beat, because it’s a short memorable word in addition to its relevance to the genre.

Other ways that my media product conforms and uses these conventions is by the use of the main image on the front page, contents page as well as the double page spread. For example I researched and planed my casting and costume to ensure that it conforms to the conventions of a typical R&B magazine such as Vibe. When creating my media product Vibe was my primary source of inspiration. I looked at the cover issue with Kendrick Lamar, Lil Wayne and Drake, I noticed that they all wore formal attire, however the dress code was toned down to more casual smart, with unbuttoned shirts, loose ties and gold chains. I originally intended to challenge the conventional image by including a bandanna in costume. However after looking at audience feedback from my first draft, i discovered that the bandanna had negative effect as it confused my audience on the genre of my magazine as they could not decide if it was R&B or Rap. Therefore, my audience research had a significant impact on the construction of my front cover. I decided to remove the Bandanna in favor of the white shirt, which portrayed a clearer message to my target audience, presenting my artist as a smart yet casual styled man, this creates the impression to the audience that this magazine is professional but it not too formal that it's aimed at a audience with a higher age range.

On my contents page I only showcased the most important topics within the magazine, for example the first content direction was to the double page spread to read about the artist 'T-Jay' featured on the front cover on my magazine, although it says it's on page 83, this is because my target audience is busy young adults living in the urban areas of the UK and they don't have a lot of time to look through the magazine and tend to only choose the magazine based upon either the previous popularity of the magazine or the content displayed on the front cover of the magazine. This isn't following the conventions of normal music magazines which show each page title and what they include however other popular R&B music magazines such as 'Vibe' have adopted this method and applied it to their magazines.

The double page spread follows many of the conventions set out by a plethora of previous music magazines for example other magazines such as 'Vibe' which follows the same genre, showcase the artist on a whole page to show off their fashion and looks to the audience, for example my target audience is always looking to be at the height of fashion, and aspire to be these artists to set new trends, however the double page spread also contrasts conventions laid out by other music magazines, like KERRANG which feature a massive title on their double page spread to convey the importance of the page, however this limits the content that can be included hence why I chose to leave it out in order to reveal a deeper and more detailed story that will relate to my target audience.

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

 Social groups are normally defined as a minimum of two people who interact with one another, share similar characteristics, and collectively have a sense of unity. There are different types and examples of social groups, for example a team in various activities such as sport is considered a social group, and however the fans who follow the sport and team create a community which is also a social group. When artists create and release music their followers create a community who discuss, analysis and consume the products released.

In my research and planning I looked into channel 4's definitions and categorization of the urban population and their respective ages, interests, hobbies and fashion styles. After creating a audience profile for my media product using this information, I came to the conclusion that my media product was aimed at the "Stylers", this is a sub category of the Urban tribe.

The Urban segment is linked to inner city living, this is where young people are living in busy diverse areas, highly influenced by he rich, wealth and poverty sit side by side. With access to the latest sounds, clubs and fashions. They are strongly influenced by what they see and experience in their immediate environment. Being Local is a key factor to their individuality, there is enthusiasm for supporting grass roots talent and local movements, and many Urbans identify themselves with a specific area in the city.

This gave me clear indication of the type of contents to include into my media product, for example my double page spread contains a local upbringing story told from the heart of my artist 'T-Jay', as he talks about his life in Lewisham and how it is a large factor in becoming the man he is today, this represents the Urban youth as Lewisham is a south east London borough that stereotypical represents urban youth culture through its outer London community.

Urbans are best known for their style of music, this ranges from R&B to grime, UK bass and old school jungle as well as rap, this is a huge factor in representing the tribe as my media product is a music magazine that is R&B based that showcases local artists and tunes, as members of this tribe are proactive in their search for new sounds, encouraging new releases, and indulging in digital mix tapes and sharing them across social networks, to help represent this my digital version of my media product known as 'Beat Online' that has access to social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. Young people would be to access this through these social networks, the Urban Tribes play a hugely important role in dictating the artists that break through to the mainstream, for example Tinchy Stryder was a grime artist before he picked up popularity.

"Stylers" represent status and style in the urban segment, they are about partying, looking good and staying ahead of the current trends. They are the rising influence of urban fashion and music, with increasing popularity as more young people are committing to the tribe than ever before.

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

I looked at various institutions that could distribute my media product, for example i looked at IPC media, one of the UK leading magazine as well as digital publishers, with a magazine portfolio consisting of magazines such as Ignite and Connect, looking at their magazine history I discovered that they did not have much experience with music magazines, especially R&B genre based ones, so I came to the conclusion that I would not use this institution. However I looked at another institution call the Bauer Media Group, this institution had more experience with music magazines for example this German based distributor owns magazines such as MOJO and Kerrang, both hugely successful magazines, however this institution operates on a global scale where as my media product is a local magazine that show cases local R&B music and would therefore not fit this institution,

After all this i decided to create my own institution called Beat Media Group, taking elements from bout IPC media and Bauer Media Group, for example i took the local UK aspect from IPC media, creating a UK only institution distributor however I took the experience form Bauer Media Group, looking at how they distributed their magazines and what they included in these media products. Beat Media group is a UK based institution that distributes music magazines around London.

4.  Who would be the audience for your media product?

Upon looking at my research, I established that my media product is aimed at young adults, in their early 20’s, university students. I came to this conclusion because of the popularity and success of the R&B for that age group, this is evident from my audience research that I conducted. The R&B genre conveys the sense of sexual desire as well as a desire to be wealthy and hugely successful, this resonates with the youth as they are aiming to reach their aspirations they have set out for themselves, giving them motivation to reach it. R&B stands for rhythm and blues and through my audiences research I discovered that many people believe that it’s a way of expressing their inner emotions and feelings, as evident by my tribe research, the audience that is intended for my media product are young adults, who are always looking to stay ahead of the trends but do so with little money as they are always studying, partying or working, R&B gives these young adults to release their stress and frustration allowing for enjoyment and relaxation. They can relate to my media product as the layout and colour scheme is blue. Blue connotes to various subliminal messages for example, it’s a calm colour, tranquil and relaxing, young people endure a significant amount of stress, whether it be from exams or other reasons this sends a relaxing message.

My targeted audience are university students, living in urban areas of London 

My media product is aimed at Young adults, mostly Students that go to universities that are around their early 20's, they are in part time jobs as they have to study and don't have a lot of money for this reason I made the my magazine the price of £2.99, Students are well dressed and smart presented people as they are always trying to look sharp for various reasons, for example it's common for young people to go out to clubs which have a smart dress code, there are other reasons such as job interviews, They want to look their bests at all times, so that is why I used a plain white shirt in the costume design for my media product, however as Students are still young and lazy they tend to make their appearance appear more casual, this may be by un-tucking their shirts or wearing jeans and a shirt, so to conform and appeal to this I made Tyler on my front cover of my media product have his shirt un-tucked and top button undone so that it appears smart casual. My media product would mostly be aimed at men, as shown in my audience research, where 60% answered that men are more likely to listen to R&B, So to help sell my media product I used the colour blue as blue is seen as a stereotypical favourite colour for men, whereas colours such as pink are seen as stereotypical for girls. They would be interested in staying fit and going to the gym, so by showing a modal who's in shape, acts as an aspiration and goal for my target audience, as they want to stay in shape. As it's common for young people to always be busy and social they don't really get much time to read or watch TV, however they are always active on social media using devices such as their laptops or smart phones to stay connected with each other, because of this reason I created an online version of the Beat that would be on social media such as Facebook and twitter, there is also an digital edition called "Beat Online" that they would be able to subscribe to and stream straight to their devices such as their smart phones. 

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

After looking at audience research I asked what they associated with the genre R&B, I got various comments and responses, but recurring comments where related to movement, dancing and sex, this allowed me to help create content to incorporate into my media product for example one of the headlines on my front cover was "10 shocking sex scandles", this appeal to my target audience ass it's relevant content to include in a R&B music magazine.

"Stylers" are always at the height of fashion and therefore always looking to stray ahead of all the trends hence why I include content such as the fashion section on my contents page, I want young people to look at this and gain new inspiration for their styles starting new trends. Most of my targeted audience are students that attend universities or collage, therefore they don’t work full time and have less money because of part time jobs, therefore I priced my media product at £2.99 to compensate for this fact and attract more people to my media product. Students are well dressed and smart presented people as they are always trying to look sharp for various reasons, for example it's common for young people to go out to clubs which have a smart dress code, there are other reasons such as job interviews, They want to look their bests at all times, so that is why I used a plain white shirt in the costume design for my media product, however as Students are still young and lazy they tend to make their appearance appear more casual, this may be by un-tucking their shirts or wearing jeans and a shirt, so to conform and appeal to this i made Tyler on my front cover of my media product have his shirt un-tucked and top button undone so that it appears smart casual. My media product would mostly be aimed at men, as shown in my audience research, where 60% answered that men are more likely to listen to R&B, So to help sell my media product I used the colour blue as blue is seen as a stereotypical favourite colour for men, whereas colours such as pink are seen as stereotypical for girls. They would be interested in staying fit and going to the gym, so by showing a modal who's in shape, acts as an aspiration and goal for my target audience, as they want to stay in shape. As it's common for young people to always be busy and social they don't really get much time to read or watch TV, however they are always active on social media using devices such as their laptops or smart phones to stay connected with each other, because of this reason I created an online version of the Beat that would be on social media such as Facebook and twitter, there is also an digital edition called "Beat Online" that they would be able to subscribe to and stream straight to their devices such as their smart phones.

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

In creating my front cover, contents age and double page spread for my R&B magazine, I developed an understanding of the Adobe software Photoshop as well as the ability to use physical tools such as a DLSR camera. From my learning of lighting I learned how to ensure my images are brighter with 3 point lighting.  

To develop higher understanding of the tools and functions of Photoshop I seeked advice from YouTube and a channel called ’Phlearn’, introducing me to new skills I had never discovered before.

The first technique that I discovered was the ability to use the magic wand tool, after taking photos of my peers during my photoshoot, I had to remove the background green screen.

To remove the green screen I had to select the magic wand tool in the top left column, than by clicking on the desired green area the whole green space will be selected and deleted if necessary. I came across a few difficulties when attempting this, my subject of the image had little areas of green visible around the hair within the image.

In order to master the use of this tool I had to practise varying the tolerance to ensure all areas are covered.

When taking the photos of my media product I used a DLSR camera as well as 3 point lighting. This was something I had to develop an understanding for as I never used a DLSR camera before. As from my research into various music magazines I had to look at the lighting of the images as well as the positions and poses that were created. I saw that the front cover can range of camera angle depending on the editor’s choice as some front covers where close up and overs being long shots, I settled for a medium long shot for the front cover as it appeared to be the most common. To take this I had to position my peer in front of the camera with a green screen behind him, so that his waist was visible, I proceeded to add lighting placing a fill light in front of the camera just below the lens to light up my peer, I then added a key light behind him to remove the shadows that were being cast, the back light also allowed the cropping out of the green screen much easier to edit.

Blogger was also a new experience in presenting my media product as I never used it before, when I started this project I view various tutorials as well as digging into the website itself to see if I can develop a better understanding of its feature and how I could change them to suit my needs. I firsts thought about making an institution to present the media product I discovered I could modify the layout to meet my requirements as well as change the background an title images, I went through many changes as my media product developed. Originally I could only place an image but it was tiled, this was until I discovered a code that could enlarge the image and used it.

The main three technologies that I used throughout this process were Photoshop, a DLSR camera and Blogger to present my work, however when I was presenting my research and planning, I used other methods of creatively presenting my work and emending it into blogger, using methods such as ‘Toonpow’ and ‘Prezi’,

This are the main technologies I used throughout this process, Photoshop, a DSLR and 3 point lighting. However, when doing research and planning for my music magazine, I used lots of online media to present my work. This included using websites such as ‘Emaze’ and ‘Popplet’.

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

As I have progressed throughout the year starting from my preliminary task I have developed and learned a plethora of skills and abilities, on different types of software such as Photoshop, for example at the start of the course I didn’t have an advance knowledge in using these types of software, after various tutorial I developed these skills and I’m now able to incarcerate them into my media product.

When I took the photo for my preliminary task I was unaware of the lighting conditions as well as the ability to use a green screen, this made it difficult to crop out the image of my peer from the surroundings, as well as lighting meant that the image looked tacky and un professional as there shadows are covering his face. I learned from to use different forms of lighting to fix this, by using key lights to highlight his face as well as fill lights to reveal his attire as it’s a key convention in attracting my targeted audience.

My new Photoshop skills also helped me as they enabled me to alter the images and to change the lighting, this is evident in my construction, where I was able to change the contrast and tone of the image to fit the media product.

Summary

I am going to create a music magazine that is based on the R&B genre. It's going to follow the many key conventions that i highlighted out from other music magazines, especially those of the same genre to attract my targeted audience into purchasing my music magazine. My targeted audience is young adults (mostly male) that listen to R&B style of music as well rap, grime etc. They are around there late teens early twenties, and would be mostly interested in social conventions such as going out, parting and socializing with fellow teens. They are mostly still in education or have at least just finished and are on first full time jobs, therefore my magazine would be fairly cheap as they wouldn't have much money. I can also appeal to my targeted audience by featuring artists that a new and local giving new artists a chance. This means that the magazine will always have the most fresh content which is what my target audience looks for. The pages that i will make to present my magazine are the, front cover, contents page and the double page spread. In order to create these i will need to ensure that i have a sufficient amount of photos of models (the artists that will be the subject of my magazine) and research magazine content from music magazines such as vibe to see what they include in their magazines. Since starting this project my ideas have changed and developed, originally i planned to call my music magazine 'Tune' and have a purple and orange/red colour scheme, however after researching into the music magazine industry i realized that i needed to update my initial idea. On my front cover i am going to keep it simple, I've discovered that most R&B music magazines have simple designs that are order and not clutter unlike pop magazines for example. Thanks to my research i have analyzed the conventions that i need to include on my front cover for example; I have to ensure that there is an image of the artists face that is clear and visible as their fame can help sell more copies and possibly further issues of the magazine. As it's the artist that my audience is interested in. Furthermore i need to keep in mind my target audience and if my magazine would appeal to them, looking at what works and what does not.

Photo Re-Shoot

Costume

I looked at many magazines of RnB genre and saw many conventions, the style was constantly smart casual looking, for example of the front cover of Vibe, Kendrick Lamar was wearing a white shirt with a few buttons undone, with chains around his neck, this makes him look, rich as well as powerful in the music industry. Women tend to wear dresses, to make them appear classy as well as glamorous.
Some of my initial inspiration:

Before my photo-shoots i prepared a few costumes that i wanted my models to wear for the images, for example i asked my peer Tyler to originally wear a bandanna around his head along side a white shirt.

After hearing audience feedback i discovered that the bandanna actually took away the smart look at drifted away from my originally intention. In my re-shoot i had removed the bandanna to keep the white shirt.

I asked my other peer Eli to bring in a dress as well so that i could photograph her in the dress for my contents page.

Here are the costumes that i used:

Photo Ideas

Flat Plan - Front Cover