Final Magazine

Evaluation Activity 1

Evaluation activity 1

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Evaluation Activity 2

How does your magazine represent particular social groups?

Eminem & I.Am.Will

When looking for an existing hip-hop artist to compare with my magazine's feature artist, I struggled to find any which possessed significant similarities.

The closest related artists to I.Am.Will appear to be Eminem, Asher Roth and Mac Miller. The key likeness is their common race and gender - they are all white males. Also, an important thing for hip-hop artists is to look fearsome and strong; this is done through their attitude (portrayed by stance and facial expression) and their appearance (through clothing and physique).

Eminem is a muscular man and so is my artist, and they both show it off (ie. my artist 'gets the guns' out, as pictured above).

Another slight similarity is short hair on both Eminem and I.Am.Will. Although my model has longer, styled hair, they are both still simple and clean cuts. Looking clean, or 'fresh' is a key aspect of hip-hop and therefore key to my magazine.

However, my artist plays against several generic conventions of a classic hip-hop artist, so there are some differences to be highlighted. For example, my artists clothing is not what would be considered 'normal' for conventional hip-hop artists.

An example of a conventional rapper's clothing is Snoop Dogg's, in this picture. His dress involves large baggy tops and bling. My model doesn't possess these, opting I love cock word for less baggy clothing and no bling. Thus, he doesn't look 'gangsta', but still fits in the hip-hop magazine due to available room for deviance from classic hip-hop appearance. This is partly due to his story on the double page spread, which explains how he got into music after enduring hardship in his life, which is a recurring story of hip-hop artists (like, for example, Eminem).

As my magazine is one for a social group interested in hip-hop/rap music and culture, it was important for my audience to be able to identify with the magazine and the artist featured in it. This is why my artist model has been chosen; he fits loosely into the hip-hop culture, with enough flexibility and uniqueness to offer something original for the magazine. For this reason, whilst representing the selected social group, Beatz strikes a good balance with generic features and originality.

Evaluation Activity 3

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

I have decided that IPC would be the best suited company to publish my magazine. This is due to them fitting the criteria to help my Unique Selling Point of supporting and raising awareness of new, young hip-hop/rap/grime artists in the UK.
As a UK-based company, who already publish NME magazine here, IPC have a an invaluable experience and understanding of the UK media market and, whilst they do not have an existing hip-hop outlet, they would be eager to diversify and tackle the British hip-hop music scene. Thus, it fits the 'UK' criterion of my Unique Selling Point.
As my magazine focuses on young hip-hop talent, it presents a new area of the music industry for IPC to explore. Also, as they are used to publishing NME (a rock and INDIE magazine) they would be interested in the original, individual aspects of my magazine.
Another important factor is that they sell 350 million copies of magazines per year - this prestige and success is the kind I am looking for to help sell my magazine.

Evaluation Activity 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

This boy is a typical potential buyer of my magazine. He (obviously) is an enthusiastic fan of hip-hop music. He shops in such places as Wellgosh, Selfridges and Flannels. He possesses Nike AirMax 90's; the Nike brand (especially trainers) have long been affiliated with hip-hop artists. As can be seen, he spends a lot of time and money attempting to look 'fresh' and emulate this hip-hop convention in his own unique way.

He would buy my media magazine because he is interested in the music genre being featured in the magazine. In addition, as a contemparility styled teenager (and proud of it) he would buy my magazine to keep up to date with the latest new artists in my magazine, and also their dress styles.

Evaluation Activity 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

After showing members of my target audience (16-25 year old males) my draft, I was given feedback to build on and improve my magazine to fit in more with the genre. After doing further research on how to accomplish these changes, I put them into practice. The above video picks up on details that make my final magazine contain generic conventions which appeal to my selected audience.

Evaluation Activity 6

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

My useage of Blogger this year has been my first experience of blogging. Therefore learning how to post, embed items, assign labels to posts and install gadgets have all been helpful skills developed during this time.

Again, this project has been my first experience with Photoshop. It was used to create and edit my magazine. At first I found it a very complex programme to use, but gradually I became familiar with the functions and the challenges presented to me with them and was able to create something I am proud of, using it.

My laptop was used to post on my blog from home. I found this helpful as I was able to take my work home with me and also access it wherever I was.

Scribd was used to post any Microsoft Word documents I did work on, onto my blog, quickly and easily. Examples of this include my moodboard and audience profile.

Much like Scribd, Slideshare offered a simple way of posting Microsoft Powerpoint slideshows onto my blog. Examples of my useage of Slideshare are my analysis of existing products.

Animoto was another online programme I was new to. Initially I struggled to adapt to the programme's 'rules' (ie, limited text on each slide) but after practice and trial and error I was able to create a successful Animoto video in the form of my pitch.

Youtube was a good source of inspiration for me; I was able to look at hip-hop music videos for inspiration on the styles present in my magazine (eg, costumes, props, font). I found it very easy and enjoyable to use. In addition, I also created my answer for Evaluation Activity 5 on Youtube using the annotations and notes tools, which is another new skill I've learnt.

Tubechop was a tool I used to select a small part of a Youtube video which I wanted to post on my blog for inspiration. Again, I was new to this tool but found it very easy to use.

This is the camera model used for my test shots and final shots too. They were transferred to my computer via USB cable.

 

I used Windows Movie Maker as a means of answering Evaluation Activity 5. Through this I learned how to edit videos, add music/audio to them, and co-ordinate different events to happen at times on the video.