Magazine content plan

I planned out what was going to go on my content page by writing out all my ideas on pieces of paper. On this piece of paper I have a list of some featuring artist which I would put in my magazine because they fit the specific genre of music and also will attract my target audience. I also started to make a list of article titles which would be suitable for my magazine. In order to do so I did research into some of the artist i had listed down so i knew what they were up to and could get updated news. For example I came across an interview on one of the fast rising UK rap duos 'Krept and Konan'.

Evaluation Question 7

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

Preliminary task - http://anthonykagho.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Preliminary%20Task

Final Product - http://anthonykagho.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Final%20Product

Comparing my preliminary task to my music magazine, you can see that I have made alot of progress in using the technologies to make a magazine.

Evaluation Question 6

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

Here is a wall I created using 'Wallwisher' which I have used to help me present all the technologies I used during the processes of planning and constructing my final product. 

PHOTOSHOP CS4 - Out of all the technologies which I have used to create my magazine front page, content page, and double page spread, this was the most important software helping me to make my coursework the highest quality possible. With Photoshop I was able to use existing photographs which I took with my camera and manipulate them in various ways. For example the brightness and contrast, levels and even cutting out parts of a photograph which was not needed. At the beginning of the year I had never used Photoshop before so I used other technologies which I was more familiar with to help me get the grip of Photoshop. YouTube was a big help as I was able to watch videos of experts and follow their step by step guides to using the tools on Photoshop. Photoshop CS4 was the main software used in the making of my front page and content page.

INDESIGN CS4 - At first I thought it would have been easier to use Photoshop for my double page spread as well because InDesign seemed much more complex and harder to use. It later got more comfortable and it was more suitable for the double page spread because it was easier to split the A3 page into columns. The great thing about InDesign is that it was linked to Photoshop so I was able to put a picture on my double page spread, edit it on Photoshop and it would automatically update on InDesign. A difference between InDesign and Photoshop was that on Photoshop, when something new was added to the image or page, it automatically created a new layer, but on InDesign everything was on one layer.

BLOGGER - This was a very useful bit of technology in which I used to post all my work online. Blogger is very good for this job as it is able to keep all posts organised in groups or 'Labels'. This makes it easier for other people on my blog to navigate around it and find what they want to see.


CAMERA - Another important technology I used was my Sony cyber shot camera. It is 7.2 megapixel which is not the greatest but it helped me do a nice job. The reason  it helped a lot is because it is not complicated to use at all and it is small and portable. The only problem I had while taking photographs sometimes was the lighting. I found that for the camera to capture good images, there had to be a lot of light in the area otherwise the picture would come out dark or dull. Some of these lighting problems were fixed using Photoshop.

DPS flat plan

This is my double page flat plan which I came up with using inspiration from 'Q Magazine' double page spread article on Jamal Edward. The main text is separated from the main image and is also split into three columns. Above the main text will be a big pull quote which said "I will live forever because MUSIC is my life and it will never die", rather than the main image cutting into the other page. on the bottom right of the second page, there will be the 'MIXTAPE' logo and also the page number (which is 31). This will be a design element that would be carried out throughout the magazine. Underneath the main image I plan to make an album cover and place it there so the article will seem more realistic.

Content page flat plan

While planning my content page, I came up with three flat plans so I could decide which one was best for my product. 

This is my first idea for my content page. It is split into two columns  and has two images in it. The title 'Content' is placed centered at the top of the page. I did not follow through with this plan because it seemed a bit plain and not very unique so it would not attract consumers. 

My second plan for my content page was inspired by the 'Vibe Magazine' content page which I came across during my research. The problem with this one is that there is not enough on it but I really thought the image would have been very powerful and I also like the way 'MIXTAPE Content' is written at the top right hand corner of the page as the 'Content' is broken up into 'CONT' and 'ENT'. The 'ENT' part could be interpreted as 'Entertainment'. 

This is my third plan for my content page which i found the best of all three. It is kind of a fusion of the first and second plan because it has columns but  instead of two it has three columns so it can be more organised. It will have two images (the content image in the middle and a poster preview underneath) and also it will say 'MIXTAPE Content' on the top right of the page.

DPS article first draft

MTMMG (More Than Music Media Group) emerge from the south east of London and made it to become one of the most popular producers and photographers. We managed to organise an informal interview with the CEO of MTMMG to see what he had to say about his breakthrough. 

“Can you let us know what you’re all about, like how it all started?”
“ Err basically we started off as just a group of friends way before we ended up at the same college. We knew from back in the day that we all had different talents like for example I play the drums and do a little rap here and there” at this point he looked up while grinning at me in a boastful manner. “Joe has always been a good…I mean GREAT photographer and same applies for Tee’s editing. Well one day a teacher at my college suggested we make a media group. I thought this was a decent idea so I went on to tell the others. We spent a couple of days spreading the news on blackberry messenger, Facebook and at the town centre after college. Like a week later we decided we were gonna do a promo photo shoot.”
“So how did MTM make it? ”
“Well after the successful promo photo shoot, we made a Facebook page for MTMMG and asked people to support us on twitter which helped us get noticed. Before long we started to get tweets from big UK rappers like Giggs and Skepta which really made us jumpy. It’s still not easy to get to grip with the fact that they tweeted us, not the other way round. But yeah that’s how we were heard. I guess this is a nice fun way to make money. The fames alright as well cause people notice us now but the moneys the motive at the moment.”

“So Raymond, where do you see MTM in a few years?”
His face lights up again like a child getting a new toy as he looks up at me. “Hmm it’s hard to predict where MTM will be in a few years but let’s say it continues going well with all the support we have from everyone, we would be known worldwide and meet artists such as Jay Z.” He puts his feet up illustrating his comfort. “Considering we started MTM last august and we’ve made it this far in just 5 months,” he continued, “in a few years MTM might possibly have its own record label and if you check the MTMMG Facebook page you would have noticed that we are looking for talented youth who would be interested in joining the group. Joe, Tee and I have had discussions about expanding the group slightly so we can get to more places and accomplish a lot more. “

“ABOUT YOU’RE MUSIC. You’re also quite a distinctive rapper. How does it feel to be one of the only rappers doing the hood stuff?”
“ Yeah its good ya’know. Everyday were writing a new page in history you get me? The hood stuff is a whole new scene we’re building so it’s a good look. People always ask if I would ever change my style of music, like consider pop or something but that’s not what I’m going after. Obviously I can make my music popular without changing my style to pop or something. It’s like Jay Z, he also makes gangster tunes n they still end up on the charts so why can’t I?”

“So you’re album is coming out soon, who has been producing you’re music?”
“At the moment MTMMG produce our own music to help promote ourselves but we’ve got other major UK producers like ‘Boom Productions’ etc. so we keep them on hold for future references. You’ll never know if we need them later.”

“Have you got any collaboration with other artists in your album?”
“Nah this is my first album init so if it’s a real banger I want to know I did it by myself. Also I want people to recognise MY talent and MY style but obviously albums and mixtapes after this one will feature other artists. Get me heard by different groups of people. I’d love to work with other UK rappers like Krept and Konan because they are just lyrical geniuses so I would have to step up my game.”

It was great talking to the CEO of MTMMG; they are new but on their way to the top so watch out for them. You can also catch them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MTMMG or follow them on Twitter: @MTMMG.

Evaluation Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

To attract my target audience I selected and used an appropriate house style and genre for my product. I was able to come to my decisions through the research I did into excising products. The genre also helped me to determine the content of my product which helped to connect with and attract my target audience.

Music my target audience would listen to.

These are some examples of songs my target audience would be in to.

Evaluation Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

My target audience would be people between the ages 16-30 who are into RnB, Hip-Hop and Rap.

Here is a link to my target audience: http://anthonykagho.blogspot.com/search/label/Target%20audience

According to information from UK Tribes, 'Blingers' like to spend money and enjoy having expensive items of clothing. They like big brands and are materialistic, so here is some examples of items of clothing 'Blingers' might be wearing.



My target audience like to go to raves and like to be in the lime light. At home they would use the internet for social networks such as 'Twitter' and 'Facebook' in order to stay updated on what is happening with their friends. The television would be used to watch and listen to music on channels such as 'MTV Base', 'Kiss' and 'Channel AKA'. Another main use for the television would be to play video games online with friends. The consoles my target audience would own are: PS3 (Play Station 3) and XBOX 360.

Original Photos before being Edited.

These are the photos used throughout my music magazine. They all imply the genre of the magazine and portray who the target audience is by the way they are dressed. They are dresse like 'Blingers' who like to spend money and show off their bands and some of these brands are shown through the pictures. For example: Adidas, G-star raw, Nike and Moncler.

Content page construction

Music Magazine - Target audience

The target audience for my music magazine are young people between the ages of 16 and 30 who enjoy listening  to R&B, Hip-Hop and also Rap music.
UK Tribes is 'commissioned by Channel 4, created by Crowd DNA - takes you to the heart of young Britain.' According to UK tribes my target audience are a group of people called 'Blingers'. They have icons such as Jay-Z, Beyonce and Chris Brown which are people who make music of the same genre as my magazine. They are also fond expensive brands like 'Nike', 'Adidas' and 'Prada' so they like to spend a lot of money. Other social groups closely related to 'Blingers' are 'Urban', 'Get Paid Crew', 'DIYers' and 'Trackies'.
Here is more information on Blingers: Blingers UK Tribes.

Evaluation Question 3

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

Media institutions that would be interested in my  media product and distribute it could be the ones that have existing magazines on the market of the same genre of mine (RnB, Hip-Hop and Rap). 

Alternatively it is possible for media institutions which do music magazines in other genres to be interested in mine because they may want to branch out to a variety of target audiences. 

Bauer Media is a media institution and I think they would distribute my media product because according to the list of their existing magazines, they are the owners of 'Q magazine' which is of similar genre to my product. They also have other magazines such as 'KERRANG' which is a rock magazine and 'Empire' which is a magazine focused on the film industry. These magazines are all aimed at the male target audience which is the same target audience as my product. The list of Bauer Media's Brands show that they only have one magazine which covers the same genre as my product but on othere categories they have more than one. 

 

 

These are a collection of magazines produced by 'Bauer Media' and 'IPC Media' but I have also placed my media product with them to illustrate how it would fit in amongst the music magazine market.There are some similarities like the colours Red White and Blue are used a lot and the background is not a dark colour. Also the main image is taken at medium close up - close up range. There are also some differences which is a good thing because each magazine needs to be unique to attract customers.

IPC (International Publishing Corporation) Media produces over 60 iconic media brands, with print alone reaching almost two thirds of UK women and 42% of UK men – almost 26 million UK adults – while our websites collectively reach over 20 million users every month. www.ipcmedia.com 

IPC might be interested in distributing my media product because their website tells me that they only produce two music magazines which are different genre from mine. They are the owners of 'NME' and 'Uncut'. Also their audience is two thirds of women and 42% men in the UK and since my magazine is aimed at a male audience, it would help them increase the percentage of men.

Evaluation Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social group?

My magazine represents a particular social group through the name of the magazine, main image and the artists featured. It is aimed at young people around the age of 16-27 who are into Rap and RnB music and this is represented in the main image. The person who is the main image looks between this age range and it is possible to interpret his dress code and associate it with rap music because he is wearing the stereotype woolly hat. He is also wearing big head phones which obviously is associated with music. The magazine is also aimed at a male audience hence the male model. During research I found that most magazines of this genre usually have their main image taken at a medium close up or a close up shot, so I applied this to my own magazine so it fits in perfectly.

I used a few magazines to find out what type of clothing my model should wear for my front page shoot. I saw that on some rap magazines, the main image was wearing the typical street look (woolly hat and a hoody/jacket) where as others mad this look a bit more classy with a cap and either a nice jacket or just a tank top. I chose to have my model portray the typical street look because it would connect with the target audience and attract them to buy the magazine for they can relate to the dress code.

Evaluation Question 1 part2

The content page of my media product challenges forms and conventions of real media products via the layout of the page and the language used. On the top right of my media product content page, it has the name of the magazine 'MIXTAPE' writen there and also underneath it, it says 'Content' so the reader is awear of the page. This idea was inspired by an issue of Vibe magazine during research as they also used this convention.

 

 The layout of my contents page also challenges forms and conventions of medi products because of the layout.

As you can see between the 'MIXTAPE' content and 'NME' content there are some similarities and features shared. First of all there is an index of featured people in the magazine. This helps to attract the target audience and is usually a strip along the side of the content page, with a list of famous names. Another similarity is that there are two pictures in the middle to give the reader a preview of what to expect inside. The headlines and features also gives a preview of what is inside the magazine and these elements contribute to attracting the target audience. 

There is a noticable inprovement from my priliminary tast content page to my music magazine content because through out the time I have increased my understanding of photoshop and the tools.

 

In my preliminary task I did not make use of 'drop shadows' or 'inner shadows' so the pictures and font lacked any effect. Between my preliminary task and music magazine, I did a lot more research in to existing magazines and their layouts which is why my preliminary task has no separators to separate the different sections. This may confuse the reader. The music magazine has separators and looks more neat and tidy compared to my preliminary task. In my music magazine I used more than one model who I made wear completely different outfits to increase variety. The outfits portrayed show the different sides to Rap and RnB music as one picture portrays the street look while the other is a smart casual and luxurious look. In my preliminary task there was repetition.

 The double page spread for 'MIXTAPE' magazine has a lot of elements which challenge the forms and conventions of real media products.  For example on the bottom left corner of the page it has the page number as well as the magazine logo.

 The font of the page number used is simple so it is easy to read and the colour is made white within a black square so it stands out as well as being easy to read.

During research for the layout and planning of my double page spread, i found that on most double page spreads by magazines such as 'Q' and 'NME' the article was split into two halves.Half of the article is an image of the subject while the other half is left for the text. So i portrayed this convention onto my product so it would fit in with excisting products. Also as you can see on the NME article, a kind of scrapy font  is used which drew my attention so i used a similar font in my article.

Evaluation Question 1

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

My music magazine front cover can relate to existing music magazines because of the layout and the main image. Here I have an example of an existing vibe magazine cover which has similarities with my magazine front cover.  

The masthead of both magazines are placed behind the main image. I did this to show the importance of the image but made it so it is still easy to make out what the word says. There are headlines either side of the main image on the vibe magazine front cover. I also did so because during research I realized that most magazines have this type of layout.

The image of both magazine front covers are male, are smiling with their head slightly tilted up. The emotion they portray is enjoyment which would make customers feel they will enjoy the content of the magazine. Also the image on the mixtape magazine has his jacket unzipped while the image on the vibe magazine has his shirt unbuttoned at the top. This illustrates comfort to the customer. The position of their head (slightly tilted up) shows that they are proud or confident as well as being happiness and enjoyment.

The reason why the image on my front cover is male is because the genre of my magazine is Rap, Hip-Hop and RnB. Most of the audience for these genres are male. This is the circulation of existing magazines which are aimed at a male audience.

Mojo                 ( Bauer Consumer Media ) :    87,555 ;   -7.5% 

Q                      ( Bauer Consumer Media ) :    77,522 ;  -12.1% 

Classic Rock    ( Future Publishing Ltd ) :        62,354 ;  -7.9% 

Uncut               ( IPC Media Ltd ) :                   62,305 ;   -14.2% 

Kerrang!          ( Bauer Consumer Media ) :    42,077 ;   -2.1% 

Metal Hammer ( Future Publishing Ltd ) :       35,259 ;   -15.7% 

NME                (IPC Media Ltd ) :                    27,650 ;   -14.0% 

http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=48770&c=1

My magazine suggests its genre by the name 'Mixtape' because mixtapes are normally associated with Rap and Hip-Hop.  
Definition : A mixtape or mixed tape is a compilation of songs recorded in a specific order, traditionally onto a compact audio cassette.

Also the featured artists states on the front cover  are known for either their Rap or RnB music.

Music Magazine Double Page Spread

Front Cover Construction. part2

Next I placed the main image on the front of the magazine but it didnt look right because of the direction he was facing, so i decided to flip the picture horizontally. The image had already been edited before I placed it on to the front cover. I also used the drop shadow effect on the image.

After the main image was added I used the 'Rectangular marquee tool' and then the 'paint bucket tool' to make the red strip along the bottom of the front cover. This will be one of the design elements of the magazine. I then used the 'Rectangular marquee tool' and 'paint bucket tool' again to make two small white bullet points. Then I added more headlines that would feature in the magazine onto the red strip. The next thing i did was to save an image of a bar code from google and then open it to resize on photoshop. This bar code makes the magazine seem more real as if it can be purchased.

Th last thing left was to add the headlines. I used different effects on the text for the headlines such as: 'drop shadow', 'inner shadow' and 'bavel and emboss' to make it look even more professional. I downloaded a blackberry bar code text from dafont.com  and used it to make a realistic bar code for the competition.

Researching double page spreads

This is an existing double page spread from 'Q Magazine' which as some good design elements. The first thing is that half of the double page spread is dedicated to the image or picture of 50 Cent so the remaining half is left for the text.  

Also a quote was taken away from the rest of the text and put on the other side of the double page spread, where the image is. "Getting shot didn't hurt as much as you'd think." This might be done to draw the attention of readers to that quote when they may be flicking through the magazine. The quote may interest the reader making them read on.

This is the text side of the double page spread. Again this page is divided into two. The top half is the title which is made big and is also a question 'Who the hell does 50 CENT think he is?' This would make the reader want to find out the answer to the question, therefore  continuing to read the main text below. The main text below has two drop caps, one in the beginning of each column. This is one of the design elements of the magazine. Another design element is in the bottom left corner of the page. The pages each have the 'Q' logo of the magazine and also most pages have a three digit number at the bottom of the page. For example page twenty seven would be '027' and page one hundred and one would be '101'.

 

Music Magazine Content Page

Music Magazine Front Cover