Front cover

 

Contents

Feature page

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

Images

For my image i used a medium close up shot of me for my magazine cover, my feature page and also to go on my contents page.the reason why i used that type of angle for my magazine is because I felt like that was right for a magazine cover. the white wall was also something i wanted in the background because it makes the model stand out in the magazine and also to the audience. i also didn’t have to edit any of the pictures because the background color was good enough and there was nothing disrupting the image. i also used a picture of my friend to be in the contents page to add more of a feel to the magazine so it wouldn’t look like it was only about the artist on the front cover. i roughly used around 4 images which was the amount i was supposed to use for the whole magazine and i also could’ve used more. one challenge i did have to face was choosing the right front cover image. this was because some of the pictures that were taken would cover up some of the writing in a certain area or the position wasn’t correct.these were the four  images i used:

The camera i used was the nikon d300. i thought it was a good choice to use to use this camera because i was very good at using it plus i was used to the settings. it was also a different choice because many people used a canon to take their pictures for their magazine. i wanted to take several of pictures with this camera to get the right picture so i would be more satisfied with it.

These are some of the draft pictures i took but wasn’t in my final piece:

Mast Head

The image above is the Mast head for my magazine front cover. the design is different compared to other types of Mastheads because of the line going through the word which makes it look different than any other type of Masthead. one of the challenges i had to deal with was trying to find the right size for the word and the right font to use so it wouldn’t be out of touch with everything else on the front cover. the mast head is placed on the top right of the page. the type of font that was used is Arial and due to its size being big (120pts) it gives it more of a bold look to the word.

Page Design

While i was creating my designs for my page, i was focusing on the colors i was going to use. the colors are very important in a magazine because it makes the words and design more clear and much more adjustable to read. for the contents page i used a mix between black and white colors. The background is mostly black while the text is in white to be clearer to read.

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

pictures of the type of people im targeting:

lifestyle- the type of the audiences lifestyles are based around music. they listen to music on a daily basis and some are music fanatics. they also have debatable discussions on current music trends . The model on the front cover also shows the type of brands and clothing they wear. Nike is a very popular brand with rap artists as they wear it in music videos and on a day to day basis. other brands like adidas and puma are also worn alot by many people.

Interests: Music is the only thing they look up to. music is always in their ears,music is where they go, and music is what they worship.

1. Type of people/emotion/behaviour:
2. Self educated
3. Want to better the society
4. always want to learn new things
5. Big Headed

race- Mellomag is mostly based around black culture and represents it in a positive way. The magazine talks about race in Hip Hop and also how the black african american community are very dominant in the Hip Hop and Rap industry. The social group that do read the magazine are mainly black people and compared to the black race,a small amount of other cultures read the magazine. its a way for many artits like their kind to express how they feel and their full thoughts and beliefs. This is mostly becuase rap was brought up around a black community in the past but now it has also turned into a multicultural genre with many new artists from different areas  and countries all coming together or individualdy making music. this makes MelloMag available for anyone and also fits in most catergories for the audiences type.

costume- The model that was used in magazine is a reflection of what people from the genre and what they wear in our generation like Nike,Adidas etc which are based around street wear. if we go more further into the genre many artists like to have accessories for example, chains,cars,alot of cash and more. they like to dress to impress with their latest clothes and all sorts. The type of clothes they wear feels like an imprint of who they are as a person and who they are represented as to their friends and the people around them

The type of group i am targeting:

• Age-16-25
• Motivators
• self employers
• believers

Mellomag represents the style of Rap and Hip Hop in many ways. It gives the Hip hop and rap community an update on whats going on in the community,new music and up and coming artists

 Evaluation Question 3 : What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

When ill be ditsrubiting my magazine, the magazine will be distributed to many main stream companies and will also be on indepent companies aswell. This is because the magazine deserves a large audience as it does fit in to many genres like Hip hop and RnB. Due to my magazine not being so mainstream,me distributing it to bigger companies would be the best option although, it may be more likely to be distributed by independent companies.

Social media: The magazine will also be on social media websites and platforms like music websites so it will be available for ordering. It will also be on soundlcoud and podcasts to listen the audio copy with interviews etc.

retail stores: The magazine will be selling at retail stores in the supermarket and in corner stores. this would be a great source to sell my magazine as it would be brought physically. my magazine will be also selling at popular events/shows/concerts and events

bauer media: Bauer Media Group is a European-based media company, headquartered in Hamburg, Germany that manages a portfolio of more than 600 magazines, over 400 digital products and 50 radio and TV stations around the world. The media company owns magazines like Q and Kerrang and many others.

independent distrubtion advantages: the advantages of being distributed by an independent distribution is that the distribution would get all the credit for their self work and they would be able to connect to the audience much easier because it will start off as a small magazine. also they would be able to recieve a wide audience by the connecting with the audience more and them stating their opinions to get it some publicity.

independent distrubtion disadvantages: the disadvantages of distributing the magazine with independent media companies is that the magazine wouldnt get alot of attention. this is because many independent comapanies are not as big as the mainstream companies with have a much bigger audience. another disadvantage would be how many people would know about the magazine and the accessibility of the maagzine becuase  it would be harder to get than if it was in big retail stores (mainstream magazines)

mainstream distribution advantages: The advantages of a mainstream distribution is it would help me get my magazine across the globe due to the popularity of these distrubutions. it would also reach a much wider audience than if it was an independent distribution, retail stores would also feel much more comfortable with selliing the product aswell.

mainstream distribution disadvantages: there are also many disadvantages with a mainstream distribution. if i was going to be with a mainstream distribution it would have to have the requirements and it would have to be obliged with their rules. if theres something on the magazine that cannot be published with the distribution it may have to be taken down. although the magazine would reach more people it wouldnt be authorised and would have to be suitable for the distribution to put out for the audiene.

Printed and Digital: As we all know printed magzine sells are declining massively over the years. this is because the current generation is mainly on social media and on websites. this is why many of the mainstream magazine companies like the guardian have decided to go digital first to focus more on their online magazine but still sell printed magazines.

Digital platform (Best choice) Focusing more on the digital platform with the magazine will reach to more people because many people dont buy physical copies anymore. it has been statisticly shown how the amount of copies been selling has declined by 50% in the past 10 years and ho many poeple in this generation are mostly on social media.

Evaluation Question 4:Who would your audience be for your media product?

Mello Mag is mostly focused on teenagers and also young adults(16 to 23). its a multicultural community but more of a black african community. We are focused on giving the younger generation freedom and enjoyment to also be positive.

Type of music they like: the music they like is rap mixed with other genres like RnB and Hip Hop. The music is mostly based around positivity mixed with many artists talking about their past and memories while the listener an relate to the lyrics

types of clothes my audience wears:

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Hairstyles:

Low cut (waves)                                      Dreads/Twists

Evaluation Question 5:How did you attract and address the audience?

Promotion: one of the ways i attracted my audience was by doing promotion. by me doing promotion, this would attract the audiences attention to look at the magazine and to also know about it too. i used some social media applications like instagram and others like tumblr and making leaflets to share out. social media is also a good platform to keep people updated about the latest news

images: the images were very important in my magazine. I used medium close up images for my front cover,feature page and contents page. this would give the artist most of the attention as its about the artist. i used a plain background for images so the artist would stand out more

The colors i used was mostly black to represent the background. i also used a mix of white and some of blue text in the magazine. Another thing that will attract the audience is the taglines,fonts,titles, and mastheads. i tried to make it clear as possible so the reader would feel more interested to read the magazine

examples

Evaluation Question 6:What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

In this video I explained some of the issues I experienced with in the magazine and some things I had to manage with.

 

At the start of the year it was hard using the programme tools to make my programme. as i started to use the programmes more to make my magazine i was more familiar when using the editing tools the two main programmes i used were Adobe in design to make my music magazine and i used Microsoft publisher to make the school magazine. i wouldnt say im the best using these programmes although i still managed to make the magazines.

Programmes i used:

all these programmes had their pros and cons. for me the programme i found much easier to use was Adobe indesign,maybe because i spent more time on it then on the other programmes and the programme was much easier to navigate. I didnt really need to edit any of the pictures  because there was nothing i had to remove or edit. the only thing i done with the images was change it because the first image i had didnt suit the front cover so i moved it to the feature page and used another picture for the front cover. i wasnt too familiar with photoshop so i didnt use the programme.

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

since last year doing my magazine there has been alot of improvements and differences.

this is my masthead for my music magazine. the design is much better than my preliminary as i wasnt to familiar with how to use the tools in the programme. i made this mast head on Adobe InDesign because i felt it was more easier to use it than me using Microsoft Publisher.

i made my preliminary magazine on Microsoft Publisher. With both magazines there are alot of differences in the design

as you can see from the title,theres alot of spaces and it looks very plain. when i first started using microsoft publisher, i wasnt too familiar with the programme. if i was going to redo the magazine i would use Adobe InDesign and i would most likely make it look much more professional. Looking at my contents page i definately spent more time on my music magazine contents page than on the school magazine contents page. Everything was more in place and it was much more filled out with small gaps. There are three pages on the music magazine and two pages on the school magazine. I prefer my music magazine than the school one because it looks mcuch more professional plus i had a more fun time exploring different types of fonts and sizes with a various amounts of designs i could include with the magazine. my school magazine looks less professional because i spent less time on the task.

Both of the magazines have two different goals and meanings. Mello mag is more based around music and the culture of music aswell. It represents the lifestyle and the career of many artists and also talks about the music community aswell.

Pass 4 stars is a school magazine is focused on school students and contains guides and school tips to passing your exams. its suitable for every teenager thats still in school taking their exams and planning revision

viewing both of my magazines i can honestly say that my rap magazine is much more better then my preliminary magazine. i took more time in making my music magazine and working more on the design. for the front cover, the masthead is more in position and plus its much more detailed. everything is also in better fonts and text sizes as it fits in the area its been placed in. I enjoyed making the musci magazine more because i spent more time on it and also i could play around with alot of its tools and features on the programme. these two comparisons also show how i have improved during the amount of time of making both of these magazines. there are much better taglines and everything is in place.

comparing both of these content pages,the music one looks more professional. The layout is much better as everything is more organised like the pictures and texts. The contents page is more detailed and there is much more on the magazine. It also looks more appealing to the audience as they would more likely read the music magazine than the preliminary magazine

The hip hop scene is mostly conquered around the black community and race. at the start of the Hip hop and rap, releasing music and the environment that black african americans lived in was very rough and some of the events that were taken place also caused a racial dispute between black rappers/singers and against the police and racist people. One of the most popular tracks that striked back at the racial offense that the police was doing to black people is a song called ‘F**k the Police’ by one of the most inspirational music groups NWA.(Ni**as with attitude)

“Dr. Dre explained the song was created after the members of N.W.A were forced by police to lay face down in the street with guns to their heads.However, the reason why the police were harassing them was because Eazy-E was doing drive-bys shootings on innocent people on bus stops with a paintball gun”

Quote taken from: https://genius.com/Nwa-fuck-tha-police-lyrics

My magazine is mostly based around rap and also has a mix with Hip Hop. the audience i’m aiming towards is teenagers from the ages 18 below and  young adults in their 20’s. to show that my audience is named at teenagers i used a teenager that’s young in the front cover and i also used another teenager. The text is also informal so that they can understand and it would be easier for them to adapt to the magazine quicker and they can also relate to the magazine due to the type of slang thats being used like ‘innit’ or something like ‘you get me’. The style of the magazine is also urban and its not too formal. I also tried to use the right font to suit the style of the magazine. The magazine is mainly based around males but females are also included to my target audience. The type of clothing is also important as well because its what teenagers wear for example, Nike,Adidas,Puma etc

Here’s a list of some of the potential names that could’ve been the name of my magazine,these were a couple names i had in mind

The Flow                                                                                                                                                               Revolution                                                                                                                                                           Rhythm And Poetry                                                                                                                                           The Streets                                                                                                                                                         Lyrics And Bars                                                                                                                                                   MelloMag                                                                                                                                                             Rap-Up                                                                                                                                                                   Versatile flows                                                                                                                                                     Shortlisted:                                                                                                                                                       Lyrics And Bars                                                                                                                                                   MelloMag                                                                                                                                                                Rap-Up                                                                                                                                                                  Versatile flows

The name i chose: The name i chose for my magazine was called Mellomag. The reason why i chose that name was because i felt like it suited the style of the magazine and it also suites the models appearance. although the letter ‘w’ has been taken off ‘mello’ it still gives the reader/audience the type of vibe and not only that, it also gives that type of vibe about the magazine as its positive and how there’s nothing violent or too explicit which suits all age groups that are willing to read the magazine

many artists in the music industry host events and shows to make money and they also release projects (mixtapes,albums and ep’s).

shows are a great way for artists to interact with their fans or through social media. before a show artists tend to promote where they will be having a show before the date of the show and they would sell tickets online and keep promoting it until its sold out.

Licensing: If you get your song placed in a film, commercial, or TV show, chances are they’re going to pay you a licensing fee. These fees vary greatly, depending on the budget for the project, and how badly they want your particular song

Concert tours

A concert tour is a series of concerts by an artist or group of artists in different cities or locations and also diffrent countries. they perform a selection of songs from their album or solos in each city/location and each show lasts for around 1 to 3 hours long.Some artists also bring out support acts with them to perform aswell. Often concert tours are named differently to other concerts which makes it different compared to other artists tours. for example, Drake named his tour ‘Boy Meets World’.

merchandise

Alot of artists sell merchandise like Gear,products,clothing, and also do pop up stores to enlarge their brand. some artists do this early in their career while when most rappers retire they go to the more business side of selling their own merchandise. an artist which has done this is named Pharell williams and has a clothing brand named Billionaire boys club.

Songwriting/Composing: If you’re a songwriter, you could write songs for other musicians, or compose music specifically for film and television

Albums/mixtapes/ep’s

An Album/Mixtapes/ep’s is a collection of music of which an artists puts together to release to the audience. they mostly have around 11 to 20 songs on it and its mostly their best work because they spend months on working on it

Streaming: Although per-stream payouts from streaming services tend to be small, they can add up over time. Keep in mind that these services also help new fans discover your music, and shouldn’t be seen solely as an income generator.

Sponsorships: If you’ve built up a fan base, some companies are willing to sponsor musicians to reach those fans. Sponsorships can range from cash, to free products, services, and gear.

What music magazines are available?

1: Q.

2: Mojo.

3: The Fly.

4: Uncut.

5: Kerrang

6: New Musical Express.

7: Classic Rock.

Q magazine is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom. Q was founded in 1986 by Mark Ellen and David Hepworth, who were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology.

Q music magazine also has subscriptions: 3 issues for just £3

https://www.greatmagazines.co.uk/q-magazine?gclid=CJ2onuXArdECFYg-GwodwjILPw

examples of the magazine

Mojo is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Mojo (magazine) Mojo is a popular music magazine published initially by Map, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. … In 2004 it introduced the Mojo Honours list, an awards ceremony that is a mixture of readers’ and critics’ awards.

Mojo magazine also has subscriptions: 3 issues for just £3

https://www.greatmagazines.co.uk/mojo-magazine?gclid=CNHK0NbBrdECFViRGwodKoQDRQ

examples of the magazine

Kerrang! Is a UK-based magazine devoted to rock music, currently published by Hamburg based Bauer Media Group. It was first published on 6 June 1981 as a one-off supplement in the Sounds newspaper.Kerrang is also a popular radio station which plays pop genre music In 2008, EMAP sold its consumer magazine to current owner Bauer Media Group. Kerrang also has a subscription deal: get 4 issues for just £4

https://www.greatmagazines.co.uk/kerrang-magazine?gclid=CJ_JidrErdECFbIW0wodMv4P_A

Examples of the magazine:

New Musical Express 

Express, popularly known by the acronym NME, created by Theodore Ingham, is a British weekly music journalism publication, published since March 1952.

NME Magazine Target Audience Analysis. Target Audience: Target audience is a group of people within the target market at which a product is aimed at. It can be defined by gender or age

Examples of NME:

 

 

The sales

Kerrang! – Total 246,000 readers

Men = 121,000
Women = 125,000
ABC1 = 141,000
C2DE = 105,000
15-34 = 173,000
35+ = 73,000

Q – Total 213,000 readers

Men = 171,000
Women = 42,000
ABC1 = 151,000
C2DE = 62,000
15-34 = 101,000
35+ = 112,000

Mojo – Total 171,000 readers

Men =133 ,000
Women = 38,000
ABC1 = 116,000
C2DE = 55,000
15-34 = 74,000
35+ = 97,000

The program i will be using to make my magazine is Adobe InDesign.  this will help me edit my front cover and along with my feature page. to show my progression i will be taking screenshots of how i will be making my front cover and feature page from before to after.

First of all what i would like to show is my draft of how i will be making my front cover and contents page:

Front cover

Contents page

pictures ill be using in my magazine:

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what will the feature page include:

in the feature page, it will include things like the artists back story and just some general questions to know about the artists life on a day to day basis. the main  magazine is mostly focused on the artist and what makes him to music. many of the answers coming from the artist will be fairly long and extended to give the reader something to read about.

the front cover page will include:

• masthead
• barcode with price
• coverline
• website
• quote
• issue date

what will the contents page include:

the contents page will include page numbers

• website
•  page numbers
• social media icons
• two pictures
• content that will be featured on the magazine

the feature page will include:

• 7 questions
• image
• quote
• title

this is currently how my front cover looks like.its a currently a draft and most definitely not my final piece of work. the picture of the model on the screen will be on my front cover and i will also be using another picture of him for the feature page

This is a rough draft of my feature page.  the feature page has two pages and i will be putting my background image on the right side of the page

this is how my feature page is currently looking. as you can tell from the last screenshot, i have added a  title and a picture. the current title that is displayed will not be the one i will be using because i will be using something more appealing to the audience. i will also be adding colour to the background so it doesn’t look plain.

Contents page:

from looking at my front cover it looks very blank and alot of things are missing like the bar code and cover lines. at the moment it doesnt look very appealing and theres alot of things i need to change.

after making some changes i can definitely see a big change in my front cover. it looks much more professional than before and theres less space. I removed the song title at the bottom because I felt like it wasnt needed there. I also chnaged the font in some of the writing to make it look better and also incresed some of the font sizes. i also added the website and put it on the top right with the issue date before that.

after looking at the feature page there were a couple of changes I had to make. I decided to change the background colour to black and change the font of the text to white. this makes the text easier to read and it matches the colors used in the magazine (black,white,light blue). another thing ive changed was changing the title of the feature page. this was because ‘Exclusive’ is too basic and it needs more of a flavour to it. I also increased the font size of the quote to make it bigger so its more likely to have a stronger meaning to the name and so it can cover much more space.

after making my changes I see a positive difference of the design with the feature page. the writing is much more clear and easier to read and so is the quote on the right side. the reason why I added a picture of the model was so the reader knows whos it about.

this is an incomplete version of my contents page. after reviewing my design there is a couple things I would have to input and change. one of the things I had to change was the title colour. the reason why I had to change it was so that I could make the title stand out so it looks more presentable and doesn’t look like normal text. another thing I would have to change is adding page numbers. This would help the reader locate the page of the topic and it makes it easier to navigate through the magazine so the reader wouldn’t get lost.

This is the final production piece of my contents page. I added the changes and I can honestly say I see a big improvement in change and design. the title stands out more and its more clear to see the title because its a different colour. I also added social media icons at the bottom so the readers know where to find more about MELLO MAG. near the top I also added the website link so the readers/audience can find more information and content of the magazine and what was also added was when the magazine was established. I wanted to use two images so it gives it more of a wider range and its about two people than just being focused on one artist. the sub headings are in bigger fonts with a small description. the reason why I done this was so that it gives a brief information on what the topic is about.

in the begging of starting my magazine this picture was going to be my front cover. the reason why i put this on my feature page was because i felt like this picture wasntr suitable for a front cover and the audience wouldnt be able to see my full appearence plus it would show that i have a shy characteristic

The reason why i decided to use this picture for my front cover is because is because its a straight portrait and its more of a front cover style more than the other picture .

there are many ways a music magazine can make profit. some of the ways are:

print and online digital newspapers – many newspapers such as the nme have two types of news papers which are digital and paper. the advantage of having to types of newspapers is because one of the other may suit someone else.

branding

branding is very important due to its popularity and becuase of this it would sell more. media companies also promote their company so they can expand.

major and independent magazines

major labels would sell more than an independant label. this is becuase its more known and has a wider audience. an independent magazine would find it harder to reach a wider audience because its only a very small group managing it and its also more local.

advertising revenue

nme have a huge advertising as many of their readers that are constantly reading the magazine which gives them a chance to increase the price of the magazine. famous people or companies who want to advertise themselves to be on the front or back page have to also pay alot of money for promotion.

this picture shows the ad revenue and how much each page costs for promotion. all this is extra money that is going into the nme company and isnt  just spent but the reader,its spent by the people who want to promote their own company or brand.

sponsorship

many magazines such as the nme also have sponsorship deals which means they are partnered with other companies

merchandise

many companies such as the nme sell merchandise like clothing’s and accessories to make some extra money. this is a good idea as the company are growing out their brand instead of only just being a music magazine.

physical sales

physical sales is magazines that are sold printed. although the sales have been declining it would still be beneficial to the community because the ones that read printed copies can still buy but less copies will be in store than before

The music press

the music press is also another way magazines can be sold because music magazines would be mentioned and they would be spoken about.

 

music videos are a big thing in the hip hop industry. many artists nowadays are constantly releasing videos. A music video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. it also attracts the viewer to watch and listen to the video/song instead of listening to the song with no visuals.he main benefit of a music video to the artist and record company is of promoting their music. When a video accompanies a song, the exposure of the single will automatically double – while the song can only be played on the radio and audio-only Internet services, such as iTunes, having an accompanying video means the song will also be played on sites such as YouTube and Vimeo, as well as music television.

i like watching music videos because i find it really interesting watching an artists creativity and it also sometimes has a meaning to the song and can have mind blowing visuals. artists also have a music video so the song can be displayed of music channels which gives it more attention to the audience.

Why Watch Music Videos?

Purposes of a music video to the audience vary wildly, from entertainment to keeping up with the crowd. People may watch a music video to see what their favorite artist is doing, or how they are displaying themselves at that time.

In “False Prophets”, Cole addresses the trials and tribulations of being a star. Though he refrains from name-dropping, Cole uses this track to fire shots at a few people, particularly Kanye West.

Quote extracted from https://genius.com/J-cole-false-prophets-lyrics

“Blue Notes” is the eighth song on the highly anticipated 4th installment of the Dreamchasers series. According to the dictionary, a Blue Note is a minor interval in a song, used especially in jazz, where a major beat drop would be expected…

Quote extracted from https://genius.com/Meek-mill-blue-notes-lyrics

music is also a good use to address political issues and problems going around in the world and in the society/community. an example of this would be a popular collab with snoop lion (recently changed his name back to snoop dogg) with drake and cori b who addressed peace for non gun violence in america.

here are some Gifs from the genre:

top 5 most popular rap videos of all time: