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SHAKIR RAHMAN
Media AS Studies

Report.

Media Coursework Report

My Project

In my media coursework I am investigating the Hip Hop music Genre in order to create my own cover, contents and double page spread. The project involves creating an authentic’ magazine which includes a cover page, content page and also a double page spread. In order for this project to be successful I had to do research and Planning for my project which helped me to come to my final piece, I had to also focus on the research of the audience so I could get real feedback for the magazine I was going to create. I also researched the music magazine industry as a whole, to discover more about the different genres and publications.

Research and Planning

At the beginning of the project I created a Blog so that I could record all the research and planning throughout the year. Regular blog entries have enabled me to see my product developing. I created many Pre-Production tasks, I had to do similar product research for my music Hip Hop magazine to inform me about the conventions of this genre and also give me a feel of how my final piece should be or come out like and the different conventions it consists of. For my similar product research I researched 3 different magazine covers, content pages and also 3 double page spreads. I picked the strongest magazines in this genre such as Vibe and XXL. These two magazines are both mainly focused on the music industry but also have other small features that link with the music genre such as fashion and events; this strongly relates to what I am doing and closely focuses on many hip hop artists which is the type of magazine which I am creating.

The Mode Of Address is used to speak to its audience which is in the music genre this can be related to semiotics which is the study of signs and sign systems for example a reader could look at the masthead which could be ‘Vibe’ and easily recognise that it is in the music genre. I analysed each of these magazines talking about the text that is used for example the size, the different typefaces etc. The text I was analysing on the cover was the masthead the cover lines etc. I also talked about the photography about the different camera shots whether it was a mid-shot, close up, long shot etc. I also judged on whether the image goes with the whole look of the magazine and the text. I also looked at the colours and style which is used on the page whether it was dark, bright if it contrasted with the main image and the text. I decided to also do an extra page for analysing the target audience for each cover page, so that I can show more depth and a deeper understanding of the different conventions that targeted the audience. 

I used the covers from the similar product research designs such as the Vibe and XXL covers in to my own mock-ups as they were influences, but I mainly used my own ideas to create my Preliminary task which was to create 2 mock ups of the cover page.   I tried to interpret the different styles, text usage, conventions etc in to my own style using the study on conventions and real magazine research in this genre.

The photos I took I tried making them look very much related to the genre of hip hop, by the different appearances such as what the artist is wearing for example street wear and designer clothes and how he is posing if the artists got tattoos etc.

 

Audience

 

My methodology for getting audience research was creating a Survey using the online software survey monkey which allowed me to easily create a 10 part questionnaire. In my survey I had many closed questions, as this will be easier to analyse and record rather than having a lot of open questions as it will not give me an overall clear view on the answers of the questions. I got these questions by thinking of all the basic questions I can ask that will help me to adjust my magazine and to help me what to include and what not to include. For example a lot of people prefer reading an online version of the magazine so I decided to add a QR bar code tag on the cover on the magazine.

For my magazine I don’t have a niche market as I am not just targeting a small target audience but rather a large one, as I am targeting teens and adults from the ages of 16-35. Hip hop has changed over the years so there is a wider broader variety of an audience of an older age at this time rather than in the 90’s. You can reflect and see who consumes Hip Hop on the way they are dressed e.g. designer, street wear etc. also the way they talk e.g. slang and a more lower class tone and use of language.    

Also for my audience research I did a focus group which is when I printed out all my mock ups and placed it all out so that people can look at it and give me feedback which will help me to improve the work. All the responses I got were all open responses from people, some of them told me that I needed to change the colour scheme to a more eye catching look. I took photos as evidence to show people gathering around pointing and discussing my work. The feedback I got from the focus group was very helpful and useful towards my final task as it helped me to change my original ideas such as having a rectangular box behind my masthead or not etc.

Evaluation

My job was to create 3 parts of a magazine as a final product which included the Cover page, the contents page and the double page spread.  The overall effectiveness of my final product was very effective towards the target audience that my magazine is aimed at, as I got feedback from this particular audience for e.g. I showed friends that are consumers of the modern hip hop genre, and they found it appealing and similar to general Hip Hop magazines. It is very effective as I have compared my final product to many other pieces of magazines that are well known and which are popular. This research helped me to be sure of my knowledge to create this work because it made me think about the different codes and conventions such as the use of images, typefaces etc.

My final piece is very strong as I have followed the code and conventions that exist in most music magazines by using my similar product research as well as reading music magazines myself being the consumer. For example the masthead is very bold and eye catching and the audience can recognise and establish the name of the magazine that they are going to purchase as they do with magazines such as ‘XXL’ etc. Another conventional code of my magazine is the central image on my front cover which has a direct mode of address as the artist looks straight into the camera, which would create the effect that the artist is looking directly towards the audience. This is common in music magazines as the publisher of the magazine wants you to build an instant connection with the reader in order to help appeal to the audience to interest them into buying it.

The main images have very effective technical codes that I have used which refers to the camera work as I had to take pictures from many different angles, position the lighting and also editing the picture using various different software’s such as Adobe Photoshop Cs6 . I have tried making my front cover and the rest of my magazine look like a utopian solution so that it engages the audience which will help them to escape from their daily routine and problems. My magazine is not patriarchy as it is not society dominated by male power but rather equal for both genders.

Further codes and conventions that I have followed are the use of cover lines as I had the main cover line bright, bold and bigger than the other cover lines as this was the main one which will catch the reader’s eye first. I followed many VIBE magazine cover line styles from my similar product research and have tried interpreting this in a better way on my cover.












I made my content page very unique and different than other entire content pages that I studied and analysed in my similar product research. I followed many codes and conventions such as the way my text was patterned out and where to outline them. My content page was very effective as it looks very intriguing, eye catching and elegant and went for an A3 size content page (two sides).

 

 



For my Double Page Spread I made it very similar towards my contents page as I used the same colour scheme to keep it contrasting with the rest of the magazine.

 

 

My double page spread was created using Adobe InDesign which allowed me to use warp text around my image which made it look more effective. I also added use of buildings in the background reducing the opacity so it blends in to the background. When adding my quote, I highlighted the important words which can be seen quickly to let the reader know what it is about.

Overall My Final production was great as all my pieces where consistent, eye catching, elegant, I know this as I printed out the final products and showed different types of people to give me feedback.