In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My magazine “Basshead” is similar to other drum ‘n’ bass/dubstep magazines as it has a dark background, but a splash of bright colour. The content of my magazine is interviews with DJ’s and festivals and many other music related content of the genre I chose.
The front cover has a masthead at the top displaying the title of the magazine and under that it has the price and Internet address. The main front cover image goes along with the codes and conventions, as it is a picture from the waist upwards. Also on my cover, which many magazines have is a banner across the top of the front cover above the masthead displaying a competition to Creamfields festival. For the word “Creamfields” I kept the festivals own font to give authenticity. The subtitles are not obstructing the model in the image and are all aligned on the left side of the page. The main story title is larger than others and has slightly different font to make it pop. Under this, there is a quote from the interview with DJ HAZE. And with all other magazines mine has a barcode.
The front cover has a masthead at the top displaying the title of the magazine and under that it has the price and Internet address. The main front cover image goes along with the codes and conventions, as it is a picture from the waist upwards. Also on my cover, which many magazines have is a banner across the top of the front cover above the masthead displaying a competition to Creamfields festival. For the word “Creamfields” I kept the festivals own font to give authenticity. The subtitles are not obstructing the model in the image and are all aligned on the left side of the page. The main story title is larger than others and has slightly different font to make it pop. Under this, there is a quote from the interview with DJ HAZE. And with all other magazines mine has a barcode.
My contents has a variety of pictures displayed like many other magazines to grab the audience’s attention. I have a large font, bold title at the top displaying what the page is. I then have subtitles with a brief description below it with the page number on the left of it. The style of the front cover runs into the contents with the brightly coloured border and text colours. Below the border is some text which displays who will be in the next issues magazine.
The title is large and is a pull quote from the interview. The font colour contrast with the background colour, which makes it stand out. I have a main image, which is of the interviewee/artist on the right side of the double page spread; the rest of the image is underneath the text. There is also two other pull quotes beside the main image. The text is laid out by columns and is nicely spaced out to make it look presentable and not too cluttered.
The title uses conventions of magazines, as it is the largest font of all the text on the front cover. It stands out from everything else as the type of font is interesting and unusual and the colours are bright, contrasting the background colour of the front cover. The title is memorable as the name of the magazine has impact and is sharp.
The text uses conventions of magazines as the front covers texts are presented in a similar way and also with the contents. In the double page spread the text is presented in columns, which is what every magazine does. The font is easy to read and the colours are typical for a dubstep/ drum ‘n’ bass genre.
The language in my magazine follows the conventions as it semi-formal. The magazine is tries to link with the audience by being informal but at the same time isn’t too chatty and gives you the information the audience needs.
The photograph on the front cover goes with the conventions of magazines as a you don’t usually see the models legs which is why I have a photograph of the hip upwards. On the contents I have used brightly coloured backgrounds and a dim, grimey photo that goes along with the genre. On the double page spread I have a close up of “Dj Haze” and a brick wall running as the background which I thought was interesting and different, which all the magazines try and achieve.
The photographs represent young people as their clothing is worn by the younger generation and has a rough edge to it. The text has some restricted language in it so therefore its relates more to the younger generation.
Sexuality is represented but only in the double page spread, in the interview with Dj Haze where she is asked about her dating past and a little bit of nationality, when asked where Dj Haze was brought up.
The photograph on the front cover goes with the conventions of magazines as a you don’t usually see the models legs which is why I have a photograph of the hip upwards. On the contents I have used brightly coloured backgrounds and a dim, grimey photo that goes along with the genre. On the double page spread I have a close up of “Dj Haze” and a brick wall running as the background which I thought was interesting and different, which all the magazines try and achieve.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
I think my female model for my magazine is not stereotypical of the genre dubstep/drum ‘n’ bass as men mainly dominate it. So my magazine is breaking out of that stereotype. On the front cover the models body language is giving the vibe of confident and edgy with her facial expression and where her hands are placed on her hips. The red hair is bright which goes with the genre of being bold and different. I chose the makeup to define her eyes to give a mysterious feel. The costume that she is wearing is standard teenage/young adult dub head, with the zip up hoodie and skinny jeans.
The photographs represent young people as their clothing is worn by the younger generation and has a rough edge to it. The text has some restricted language in it so therefore its relates more to the younger generation.
Sexuality is represented but only in the double page spread, in the interview with Dj Haze where she is asked about her dating past and a little bit of nationality, when asked where Dj Haze was brought up.
The genre of music (dubstep and drum ‘n’ bass) is represented through the vivid contrasting colours, the unique style font, and the knowledge of many artists from this type of genre. Also the photography does as well, as the rough brick wall represents underground dubstep. The models clothing and pose slightly shows a “skank” which is a dance movement you do to dance to drum ‘n’ bass and dubstep.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
EMAP publishing have fewer titles than IPC. But Emap do have more niche audiences like “Heating and Ventilation News” where as IPC aim for the mass market and have more than one magazine for different audiences. If I had to choose out of those two to publish my magazine I would choose IPC as they already have a music magazine and would have experience in it where as EMAP publishing do not.
I would have Ministry of Sound advertise in my magazine as they release drum ‘n’ bass and dubstep albums. Another brand I would get to advertise in my magazine would be soundcloud, an website that lets up and coming Dj’s upload their music to the internet and listen for free. These two brands I chose as it is helping Dj’s within the scene and spreading the genre.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
I think the audience for my magazine Basshead would be mostly males from the age of 15-30 and some females, because the genre mostly targets males. My audience would be from Britain as the magazine is only national and not worldwide. Their interests would be in partying and heavy bass and drops. The audience would use my magazine to seek new dubstep/drum 'n' bass artists, find new venues and look at the upcoming gigs near their area. Overall they would use Basshead to widen their knowledge of the genre.
How did you attract/address your audience?
My audience would be interested in my magazine because I have a brand new popular dubstep artist on the front cover to attract my audience who are interested in the genre. I have contrasting colours which catches the eye and interesting font. I have information which any fan of the genre would want to know like “100 must see Dj sets” and a sneak peak at magnetic mans getting nowhere single. My magazine is similar to Mixmag magazine as they also have reviews, gigs, venues etc for their content. Because their music genre is club/techno it is similar because the artists are Dj's and create their music via technology.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
I used Adobe Photoshop to create my front cover and contents page of my magazine and I learnt how to put effects on fonts, for example inner/outer glow, bevel and emboss and many more different types. When I was taking my photography I learnt that you need to take photos from many different angles and to use the three point lighting system effectively to create shadows and silhouette. I then edited my photos on photoshop and edited the saturation and altered the background colours. To do my double page spread I used Illustrator and learnt how to form columns and not to make the contents overlap the fold.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Looking back at my preliminary task there is a big difference between my two magazines. My first magazine did not have a lot of effects and editing done to it look more realistic and the font was very hard to read. My Basshead magazine could pass for an actual magazine on sale and is more mature. The pictures areof a better quality as i have edited them more carefully and precisely on phtoshop and i have made sure they go with the codes and conventions of magazines.
