Note to the Examiner

To Examiner,

Over the coursework period I have progressively learnt the importance of research & planning and evaluation when creating a magazine. Due to this I have been able to further my skills and construct a final media product that will hopefully fit the standards you are looking for.

Cheers, 
Jack Astill.

Finished Cover

Finished Contents

Finished Double Page Spread

Final Magazine compared to Flat Plan

What is easily noticeable when looking at my flat plan and my final magazine is that they are basically completely different. The reason for this being that i disliked the layout of my draft magazine which mostly followed the layout set by my flat plans. Due to this i started analysing further into the layout of The Fader magazines as they are visually appealing to me. They also publish issues about the same genre as my magazine so would have a similar target audience. They are successful in drawing in this audience as they are a well established magazine. These are the reasons why i chose to take a large amount of inspiration from The Fader. Due to this my final magazine isn't similar to my flat plan.

Preliminary Magazine

 

Evaluation Question 7

Evaluation Question 6

Evaluation Questions 4 and 5

Evaluation Question 3

Evaluation Question 3 Word by Jack Astill on Scribd

Evaluation Question 2

Evaluation Question 1

Evaluation question 1 prez from jack Astill

Cover Development

Contents development

Double page spread development

Evaluation Question 7 draft

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

Over the past few months i feel i have learnt a huge amount about magazine development. My preliminary magazine contents and cover show that i had a very basic understanding of how to structure a magazine. My contents page was literally just text distributed unevenly on a white background. My cover was also very poor as it showed very little knowledge of magazine conventions. During the time between the preliminary task and the completion of my draft magazine i learnt a lot about conventions of magazines and how to use the technology available to show my increased understanding. This improvement is noticeable when comparing my preliminary magazine to my draft. My draft however still wasn't good enough. After self assessing it i decided it showed still very little understanding of how to structure a magazine for the genre of modern rap. The text was too big on my contents page and my double page spread. The image on my contents page was also too overwhelming. The font didnt look right for my masthead on the cover. The colour scheme didnt match the genre and how i wanted my magazine to look. None of the photos were edited as i didnt know how to edit them on photoshop so they looked bland. To start improving i began analysing "The Fader" magazines in my media lessons to gain an extended understanding of magazine conventions. As my knowledge improved i was able to put it into the development of my final magazine as i had gained a better understanding of photoshop and how to use it effectively. The difference in quality of my final magazine and my draft magazine highlights my improvement during the time between developing each one. However by comparing my preliminary magazine to my final magazine you can see the how much i have learn't over the entire process. 

I learnt how to style an artist so that they fit the genre they are in. My understanding of fashion in the modern hip hop industry was developed during my research as i read into it extensively. This made me able to style my artist in a way that would give him an image fitting to the modern rap game.   

A very important aspect i learnt was that magazine development takes time and patience. A few different versions of the cover, contents, and double page spread need to be trialed in order to find the right one. 

I also learnt a fair amount about camera work and framing during the process. 

I have put images of my preliminary magazine, draft magazine and final magazine here to show how much progress I have made over the process.

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Evaluation Question 6 draft

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

At the start of the process I had no experience of using Photoshop so had no idea how to use it effectively. By comparing my preliminary exercise to my finished magazine it is obvious how much I have learnt during the process. I used Photoshop at the start of my research and planning to create a mood board, this helped develop my skills in using the program. I learnt how to:

-          Place text, change fonts and sizing of text

-          Insert, manipulate and edit images

-          Choose dimensions for my magazine that match those of current magazines

-          Insert rectangles and other shapes and change the colour and shape of them

I’ve used blogger for this process to post all of my research and planning and updates on my production process. I’ve learnt how to combine Scribd with blogger to post word documents to my blog. I previously didn’t know how to do this.

I’ve learnt how to take pictures using a Nikon D 3200 camera and then learnt how to import the images captured from the camera to a computer so I could use them for the development of my magazine. 

Evaluation Question 5 draft

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

I attracted my audience through the styling of my artist, he is wearing clothes and accessories that appeal to young modern hip hop fans (jewellery, sunglasses). These accessories would attract my audience as they give my artist and image that is recognizable and typical of the modern hip hop industry. 
I also attracted my audience through the simple layout of my cover, contents and double page spread. The Fader is a well-established magazine that uses simple layouts so I thought using that convention would attract my audience as The Fader has a similar target audience. 
I also attracted my audience through the features of my magazine, they are features that modern hip hop fans would be interested in and want to read. 
The price of my magazine is also an attractive aspect to my young target audience as it is cheap (£3 per issue) so it is accessible to them to buy every time an issue comes out. The majority of my target audience fed back to me that they would purchase my magazine at £3 when I conducted a survey. 
I addressed my audience through my language choices in the text within my magazine. It is formal to a certain extent as it is a higher end magazine but has a style that would appeal to my target audience and make it enjoyable for them to read. 
My masthead is in a large font and covers the width of the page at the top. This will make it stand out on the shelf to potential readers. The name of my magazine, "Timeless" may also draw peoples attention as it is a word that links to how many people feel about music. There aren't many magazines with a name that has a deeper meaning. Mine does, this could be a unique selling point for my magazine. It gives it a bit of personality and gives an impression to my target audience that the creators of the magazine care about music as much as they do so will trust that the content is worth buying.  

Evaluation Question 4 draft

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

In my pitch I stated that my target audience would be 16 – 22 year olds male or female. They would also have to be fans of modern Hip Hop otherwise they wouldn’t enjoy reading my magazine. I chose this bracket of people as my target audience because I am in that bracket and interact with people in it every day so understand what is needed to attract it. Modern rap is about more than just music, most fans of it also take an interest in the culture and fashion associated with it. This would lead to more people buying my magazine as it will contain features about those areas. I conducted a survey of my target audience during my research. The majority of responses said they were interested in the culture of modern Hip-Hop not just the music.
The culture of modern hip hop includes the fashion associated with it. Brands such as Supreme, Bape, Yeezy, Gosha, Golf Wang etc. 
The culture also includes festivals and shows which most fans of modern hip hop will attend as they are mostly young people. 
The culture also includes the backgrounds of artists which could include for example stories of their come up and childhood.  

The Fader has a similar target audience to my magazine as it focuses on the same genre in a lot of its issues. This is why i went for a more relaxed simple layout such as The Fader's as it is successful in attracting the young target audience. 

My target audience will use applications like soundcloud, spotify and apple music to consume and find the newest rap music available. They will be active on social media as that will also help them find new artists and releases from established artists. People who work on producing my magazine would have to do these things to try and keep up to date so that my magazine can contain new and interesting content my target audience would buy into. 

Evaluation Question 3 draft

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

I think an institution with a large amount of experience in publishing magazines should distribute mine. With the experience it has it would be able to guide me and give advice as to how I can maximise profits for them and expand my audience. Publishing institutions play a massive role in the commercial success of magazines. They take control of or assist with the direction, content, advertising, finance, and the raising of the profile of the magazine.

I believe Conde Nast would be a suitable institution to publish my magazine as it has a lot of publishing experience and currently doesn’t publish a modern Hip Hop magazine. There is also a gap in the market for a modern Hip Hop magazine as there aren’t not many of them and it is possibly the fastest expanding genre of music right now. This leaves a high demand for magazines which have features about the genre and its culture as more and more people are becoming interested rapidly. The fan base of modern Hip Hop is one of the biggest in the world and it is still growing rapidly as rappers are gaining more and more numbers sales and streams wise each year. My magazine would attract this fan base as my features and artists included in it would appeal to the audience.

The money for my magazine would come from subscriptions, individual purchases of each issue or initially from the institution which distributes it to push it into the market.

The cost of The Fader Magazine is £41.00 for 12-month subscription = £3.41 per monthly issue.

My magazine has a price of £3 per issue which makes it very accessible for my target audience to buy. This will make it easier for my magazine to break into the market and generate profit for the institution distributing it. 

Evaluation Question 2 draft

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

During my research and planning I highlighted how important styling and fashion is in presenting artists from the modern hip hop genre. I styled my artist with sunglasses and chains as they are two accessories which are very common among artists in the rap industry. The image of Travis Scott for GQ magazine below is a typical representation of modern rappers as a group and I aimed to style my artist in a similar way so that he fit the social group of modern rappers. This way fans of modern hip hop will be attracted to the image of my artist as they recognize the traits. My artist overall represents the modern hip hop culture as a whole. The use of a pair of glasses that are usually linked with the punk or indie music scene gives my artists image an edge on other rap artists in his genre. This still represents the social culture of the genre however as fashion and styling within it has become very broad and experimental in recent years.

My magazine has a very simple, laid back layout similar to that of “The Fader” which is a magazine that also often focuses on the modern hip hop scene. I chose to structure my magazine in this way because I believe it represents the social group I have chosen as my target audience. Older Hip Hop magazines used to have lots of text and bold colours standing out all over them, this connoted well to the violence and energy that hip hop created. I believe rap has become more stripped back and laid back as a culture so I thought a simpler, relaxed structure to my magazine was suitable to the genre.

Evaluation Question 1 draft

1.In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of music magazines)

I chose to draw most of the inspiration for my magazine from The Fader. Because of this my magazine has used many of the conventions The Fader displays.

My Masthead follows the same conventions as the Fader’s masthead. The fonts used are similar and they are both positioned at the top of the page in the largest font on the cover. This ensures that potential readers notice the magazine on the shelf as the title of it will be sticking out at the top and remain visible if the magazine is stacked behind others. Readers will remember the title of the magazine easier if it is bold and stands out, this could create brand loyalty but only if the content is good. A convention I haven’t followed is the use of a coloured square being placed behind the first letter of the masthead, I didn’t feel it added any appeal to my cover.

The layout of my contents page is almost completely inspired by the Fader contents page. It uses basically all the conventions of it and that is obvious when you look at mine next to the example image. The layout of my cover uses a lot of the conventions used by the example Fader cover. The placement of the masthead is very similar. The secondary cover lines are in a similar position and under a “+” like on the example Maceo edition. The layout of my double page spread uses many of the conventions of the example double page spread I’ve given. One page is focussed on an image of the artist then the other page is full of text. I used this convention as I like the simple layout, it makes the article look more appealing to read in my opinion. I also used the convention of putting the issue number on the cover next to the mast head as I thought it looked appealing in that position whilst also giving the reader information on the issue.

I have been conventional with camera work and the framing of my images. My cover features a mid-shot of the artist which is a common shot type used on Fader covers however on the example here a close up is used which is also a conventional shot used for magazine covers.

I styled my artist in a conventional way to how hip hop artists are usually styled in magazines. My artist is wearing chains and sunglasses which are typical accessories of rappers. The Fader styles rappers in a similar way which can be seen on my blog where I have used other Fader magazines as examples.  

My article header is conventional to The Fader’s article header as it is in a different font to the rest of the text on the two pages. This makes it stand out to the reader so they are drawn in to read. The double page spread is also the main feature of the magazine so conventionally should have a title that makes it stand out if the reader is just flicking through the issue.    

Hip Hop as a genre I think has become more laid back and less “in your face”. The simple layout of The Fader magazine represents the current state of hip hop well in my opinion. That is why I chose to model my magazine based on The Fader. There is very little text on the cover or contents of my magazine which is conventional to the Fader and executes the representation of hip hop I’m aiming for. The genre is more relaxed and broad as a whole which is why a simple layout is needed. The images used in my magazine are conventional to modern rap magazines such as The Fader as they show how broad rap is now. One of my images has two grime artists with the stereotyped rapper image of a thug then another has a picture of a rapper with indie style sunglasses on and a smile on his face.

The colour scheme of the cover of the example Fader magazine matches the artist well as it gives the issue a raw, urban feel. Conventionally the colour scheme of modern rap magazine covers should give an indicator of the type of artist on it. My magazine I believe uses this convention as “Cassanova” is quite an elusive, secretive, dark artist so a black and white cover is perfect. A colourful image of him follows in the double page spread as the reader is opened up to his personality through an interview. The colour scheme of the contents is simple and has no particular personality or vibe. This is a convention from the Fader I have used as I believe contents pages don’t need to be over complicated or colourful to be effective in doing the job they are meant for. On the physical version of the Maceo edition of the Fader the barcode is placed in the bottom right of the page. I have used this convention for my cover.

Fader inspiration

I am taking a large amount of inspiration from the Fader for the design of my cover contents and double page spread. I am analysing the layout the Fader uses for its contents pages, covers and double page spreads in class and modelling my magazine based on what I learn. 

Cover Development