natalie chidziya- media evaluation

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


· Looking at my magazine I think it is conventional in the way that I used very similar colours and text to other hip hop magazines. The image is very simple and my band is wearing very hip hop clothes to suit the genre of the magazine. They are standing in front of a wall, which is mainly used in any band photography. The puffs are very bright as they have to stand out and appeal to my audience. As for my double page spread it is structured like a typical article in any other magazine. For my contents page, double page spread and the front cover I used the same text so that the theme doesn’t change. I also used spray painting on all of the pages to keep all the pages the same. Where my bar code and the date are placed are very the same to other magazines because they go anywhere suitable.
· However, in some ways my magazine has some unconventional features, such as borders around the images. Many magazines do not use borders around the images or any way. I also used some unconventional poses in my photography so that my genre is represented more.

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

· My magazine is a hip hop one. I think the institution that will distribute is likely to be EMAP as they also distribute magazines like Kerrang, FHM and Empire also

· Social networking sites like Facebook, my space and twitter. they have a greater audience because most young people use them to interact with their friends and it will be a great way to advertise my product
· Digital publishers- have become more popular recently because of the access to internet which was made easily available worldwide. More than 17% of the magazines are now available online and therefore this method will definitely distribute a larger scale of any magazine if it was used more often. This method hasn’t been mostly used but it eventually is being put into because the online service now requires customers to pay online before they could read the magazine on the magazine website.
· Music stores such as HMV- are the most distributors of any music product so I think they will play a big role to distributing my product because it would target my particular audience. Stores like this have the best advantage because they are well known and there what ever they introduce will definitely have an impact on customers, they have the ability to choose what and what does not fit in their store.
· Music festivals and gigs- most people socialise by going to a number of social events which include music festivals, gigs or concerts, most of this occasions have stores where they advertise new things happening in the music industry.



· How does your media product represent particular social groups?

· My media product represents the social group of teenagers and young adults who listen to hip hop music. I think I have achieved this through the images, layout and text that I used. I think I have met all of the aspects of a hip hop music magazine and have represented the particular social group very well.
· My media product also divides social groups through gender and age. For example the main photo on my front cover that I used throughout the product is of the same age as my target audience. If I had used an older person on the front cover I may not have attracted the audience I was targeting for or represented their social group. I have aimed my product at both males and females as I wanted to attract a wider target audience. As I have used 3 young males to make them a band on the front rather than a female band because female bands that specialise in hip hop are not very many so I had to go with males so that I attract both genders in different ways.
· For me to represent this type of social group I had to dig deeper, which is why I looked at existing products and did research on the internet of bands. I noticed that there was a very different view on hip hop and that’s why I tried to represent this in my magazine through what my band was wearing in my images. Also from my research I looked at the interests of my social group and I found out that they are more interested in new things e.g. a new song or news albums which is what my band was talking in my 2 page spread.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

· My targeted audience are teenagers and young our, aged 16-25, I chose this group because they are a kind that listens to music and can walk into a shop and buy any thing that is related to music. I have targeted the magazine to both genders as I wanted to aim to a wider audience. This magazine is very controversial because hip hop is of black origin which is why my images are of black people; however my audience are of any race, on the magazine I used a young black hip hop band because I wanted to reflect back to where it all started- back in the 80’s-90’s with hip hop bands like Run DMC making a difference in hip hop at the time.

· I wanted to be sure about my target audience so I also carried out a research to see what was missing in the music magazine market and I found that they weren't so many magazines that were based on just hip hop which is why I chose the genre (to represent it differently). The fact that I also listen to hip hop music gave me some ideas for my product and allowed me to relate with my targeted audience.

· How do you attract or address your audience?

· Looking at my product I feel I have attracted my audience in so many different ways. For instance the image that I used on the front page, I made it fill the whole page so that it draws my audience’s attention immediately. I used the image of my brother and his friends because they are young same as my targeted audience. In all of the images I took into consideration what my band was wearing as I wanted the audience to relate to the magazine e.g. people with the same style in clothes. In order to reach my targeted audience I used conventional. For example a conventional layout which I felt would attract my audience. The fonts I have used are also conventional and are bold to appeal to my audience. I feel the colour scheme I have used also tackles’ my target audience as I have used contrasting colours and fonts instead of using a typical colour such as pink. Some of the things that I used to attract on my product were spray paints and city scape to draw attention to the customers as soon as they look at the magazine.

What have you learnt from techniques from the process of constructing this product?

· Throughout the project I have come across lots of new software and technology which I haven’t previously used. I have also expanded my knowledge on other programmes I have used before such as serif photo plus. I have learnt about lots of new editing skills using the programmes like serif photo plus and Paint.net using tools such as the magic wand tool and bevel emboss. Learning how to edit images like changing the background has proved very useful in this project and it will also help me in the future. I also came across some of programmes that I haven’t used before such as serif page plus- to make my magazine I had to have the programme running and it was very difficult for I hadn’t used before but as time was passing I found my way around the programme. As well as learning to edit images, using new programmes has given me knowledge on how to construct a magazine. Looking at other magazines that are and aren’t related to this product, I feel that I can make any kind of magazine with the knowledge and experience that I have gained.

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

· Looking back on my progress from my preliminary product, I feel that my preliminary product has helped me in many ways when creating my final product. One key factor that my preliminary product helped me with was planning my time, for instance when taking pictured I knew I didn’t have to spend so much time on them because much time was more needed when editing them. However they were some images that were difficult editing because of the type of background they had. If I had taken into mind about the type of background the images needed maybe I would have created much more unique shots throughout my whole product.
· Although my preliminary product helped with the planning of my time I have also had to learn new things which weren’t covered in the preliminary products. For example this product is different from a school magazine because the school magazine didn’t require anything major as well shot images. In general I think that my whole product improved with the experience and knowledge gained from preliminary task.