EVALUATION QUESTION 3

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product?

It is important to choose the correct parent company because they will know how distribute magazines properly and they will know how to make my magazine successful. I would like my music magazine to be part of the Hearst Company because the magazines distributed by them are very similar to my magazine. This means that they are more likely to distribute my magazine because of the similarities; one of the similarities is that most of the cover images are mid-shot or full body photos and my magazine cover is a full body image. The second similarities between my magazine and the magazine distributed by the Hearst Company is that the price range is very similar which is a very inexpensive price and this is a good thing because it is affordable for everyone and even young people. This is also a good thing because more people will be able to purchase it. On the other hand, another reason why I want to be part of the Hearst Company is that the colours they use for their magazine are a little bit different from the colour used in my magazine, which will make my magazine stand out from the other magazines and this will attract more people to have interest in my magazine. Lastly, if this company produces my magazine, more people are going to view it and purchase it as the Hearst company have over 22 million people purchase products from them monthly.

RISK ASSESSMENT FORMS

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?

Throughout the creation of my media product, I learnt many things about magazine production. At the beginning of my magazine production I found it difficult to use Photoshop because I wasn’t taught how to use Photoshop and I had to teach myself how to use it. Learning how to use Photoshop was really helpful when making my music magazine as it made my media product look professional. My first draft was incredibly plain and the colours clashed with my image whereas my finish product was the opposite of my first draft as I now knew how to use Photoshop properly. Photoshop is best software to use when creating a magazine because it has all the essentials needed to make the perfect magazine such as, different ways to crop an image, different fonts, and different colours. Photoshop was incredible with colour as I was able to create my own colours. Throughout the creation of my media product I also learnt how to edit in general, as shown below, my magazine has changed dramatically from my first draft to my final product and this is because I was able to use different editing effects on my final product as I learnt how to do so through Photoshop. Editing was an essential part of the creation of my magazine because I didn’t necessarily have to start my production from the beginning if I didn’t like something as I could simply edit and just change what I didn’t like without changing the other things. Overall, I have learnt many things throughout my magazine production and improved my ability to analyse and illustrate different codes and conventions in a typical magazine. This is why there’s a significant difference between my first draft and my final product. 

EVALUATION QUESTION 6

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

From construction of my media product I have learnt that using technology is not as easy as it seems, especially because I had to utilise a camera to take the images I used in my magazine. I used the canon 700d because it takes high quality pictures and I wanted my magazine to look high quality and professional so a good company can distribute my magazine. It was not easy using this specific equipment because I had to make sure the lens was perfect each time I wanted to take the picture to make sure the pictures come out as good as I wanted them to look. Also I had to make sure that the camera was focused in order for my images to be clear and appealing for my audience. I utilised a camera instead of a phone because the pixels of an image coming from a phone was too small for my magazine whereas the camera pixels were perfect.

The second tool I used to create my music magazine is Photoshop, I used photoshop to put my magazine together. I started by importing the imgaes from my camera to photoshop in order to include them into my magazine and I cropped out what I didn’t need. Using photoshop was quite difficult because different layers kept  appearing each time I did something wrong. However getting rid of the layers were not difficult but the difficult part for me was the fact I constantly had to get rid of the layers. Photoshop was really helpful in putting my magazine together as it has all ther tools needed to create the perfect maqgzine, e.g. the colours, the fonts, etc. 

EVALUATION QUESTION 5

How did you attract your target audience?

I attracted my target audience through the colours used in my magazine as well as the artists featured in my music magazine. The main colours in my magazine consists of green

and yellow. The reason why I chose these two colour is because they are not usually found in other magazines and I knew it would attract young people, as it is something different and new. I was certain that my magazine would attract young people because I conducted a questionnaire that I gave to a bunch of young people and the feedback i received are what I tried to include in my magazine. This has helped me to understand the perspectives and preferences of my targeted audience. The main thing I included in my magazine was an interview with one of my featured artists and I did this because I know how much young people like to know all the gossip and although this interview was not a gossip, it was information that nobody knew about the featured artist (Lecrae). I included this interview in order to make it interesting for my audience. Also, I made sure that the headlines on the cover of my magazine were interesting enough for young people in order to attract them into purchasing my magazine, which could increase the level of demands.

EVALUATION QUESTION 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The target audience for my media product consists of all young people specifically young adults/ teenagers aged 16-22, appealing to a wide range of audience categories, from low class to high class. The colours in my music magazine will look more appealing to a younger audience instead of an older audience and this is because they are bright colours that can be spotted from a far distance, the colours I used are red and yellow. My music magazine is suitable for both males and females as it is a mixture of gospel pop and gospel rap, I know this because the artists that are featured in my music magazine are Lecrae, Tasha Cobbs and Nicole C Mullen. They are all very different artist that share only one thing in common which the fact that they are gospel artists. I chose a younger group of people to be the target audience for my music magazine because I wanted them to be more involved in the gospel society and I wanted them to understand that you don’t need to be old or a Christian to listen to music as most gospel songs focus more on inspiring people especially young people. As a young black female I know that gospel is something other young people will enjoy as it is very inspiring and it’s interesting because of the variety of different artists and messages that are expressed throughout the music.

FINAL MAGAZINE PRODUCT

The use of bright toned colors makes my magazine look exciting and vibrant, which will attract the audience. In addition, the colours used reinforce the genre of my magazine which is gospel. This is because gospel music is an inspirational and cheerful genre. Through the headlines on my cover, the audience will immediately infer that it is a gospel magazine. It is important because the audience expects to figure out the genre of the magazine by looking at the cover. The layout of the writing is very straight forward, which portrays that the magazine is formal. Moreover, the main image is a medium close up, which represents the importance of the magazine. This will therefore attract my target audience to purchase my magazine. 

By viewing the contents page of my magazine, the audience will know that it is a gospel magazine. This is because the piano pattern going into the clouds may be interpreted as a path to heaven. The clouds emphasize the genre as it looks godly, peaceful and inspirational and the piano pattern emphasizes that it is a music magazine. This will intrigue the audience to find out more about my magazine because the contents page looks interesting and consistent. The idea of a long shot image epitomizes the relationship between the gospel genre and the costume. This enhances the formality of the magazine as the model is dressed in a respectable and appropriate way.

The background highlights the image as it conveys the model's body language and facial expression. This enhances the idea that the gospel genre is joyful and festive. The text is spread out and follows the shape of the model's body, which illustrates a sense of organisation. The contrast between the black background and the white text make the text look clear and visible, which will motivate the audience to read.

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD ANALYSIS

Double page spread analysis from eunice_kusonika

EVALUATION QUESTION 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Representation of specific artists are important because it is a way to include the audience in the magazine as they may feel that they have something in common with the artists.

Before creating my music magazine, I decided that I wanted everyone to be able to enjoy my magazine especially teenagers/young adults, so I did not choose a specific social group. However, my music magazine is a gospel magazine, many people automatically think that gospel music is only suitable for Christians but anyone can listen to it, just as anyone can listen to rock or pop music, it is just a music genre. In addition, my magazine is not just any type of music magazine, it is a modern music magazine and through the colours (red and yellow) I used in my magazine, people will be more attracted to it as it is something different. According to the house style of my magazine, most of the people that will be purchasing my magazine are young people (aged 16-22). This is because my magazine stands out and I used colours such as yellow and red because they are the colours that appeal to my audience because they are bright and cheerful which will draw the audience’s attention. In addition, the main artist featured in my magazine is Lecrae and he is a young gospel rapper, which will attract more young people because this will reassure them that there is many different sides to gospel music and it is not just the typical type of gospel music, which is enjoyed by the older generation. also, one of the main reasons why I chose Lecrae to be featured in my magazine is because I did some research and most young people believe that gospel music is dull. This suggests only older people can enjoy gospel music. However, Lecrae’s gospel music is not portrayed as tedious music. However, because I wanted everyone to read my music magazine and I know how much young people like gossip, I included a section in my music magazine where the reader finds out more about the secrets about his success. Lecrae represents my target audience because he’s a young rapper and most young adults/ teenagers like rap music and the only difference between Lecrae’s music and another rapper is that Lecrea’s music has a great message that motivate people whereas other rap artists promote gang, violence. From my research, I found out that males would be more interested to my magazines than females as Lecrea is a male.

EVALUATION QUESTION 1

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

For my media product, i had to create a magazine of my chosen genre. My music magazine genre is a gospel; I chose to do a gospel music magazine because there is not many gospel music magazines that has been distributed in the magazine industry. I think this is because magazine distribution companies feel that not many people will purchase gospel magazines because of the norm, which is that gospel music is for older people but not many older people read magazines.Throughout my magazine production, I made sure that my magazine's conventions relate to the genre. There are three modern gospel artists featured in my music magazine, I did this because I wanted to demonstrate that there are many different styles of music within the gospel world. The images in my magazine also relate to its genre. Through the costume worn by the model in my magazine, the audience will be able to infer that the genre is gospel as she is wearing clothes that look elegant and not so revealing. In addition, through reading the masthead on the cover page of my magazine, my target audience is likely to infer that it is a gospel magazine as it says, “The living word”. I tried to give as many hints as possible for the audience to insinuate that it is a gospel magazine as soon as they view it.

 I chose to do a modern gospel magazine because I knew that it would attract and appeal to a younger adult/ teenage audience. My music magazine challenged the forms of conventions as I used colours (yellow, green and red) that are not usually utilised on magazines. I did this is because I wanted my magazine to stand out from all the other magazines but also look appealing. Moreover, I wanted to challenge the forms of conventions because I felt that magazine distributions want to publish something new and different which will stand out as many more people will purchase it and my magazine does not follow the norm of other magazines e.g. my masthead is on the side of the front cover instead of the top centre. 

MAGAZINE PARENT COMPANIES

Parent Companies

I would like my magazine to be part of the Hearst Company because it publishes many similar magazines to mine. For example, ‘Bazaar’ is a magazine that is being distributed by the Hearst Company. My magazine is similar to ‘Bazaar’ magazines they all have only one image on the main cover and so does mine. I think this is so the audience do not get confused when they pick up a magazine distributed from the Hearst Company, as they are all elegant and classy. Another reason why I think my magazine would be similar to Bazaar magazines is because most of their main images are mid shots and my main image will be a mid-shot. Bazaar magazines are similar to how I would like my magazine to look because all the models presented on ‘Bazaar’ magazines are elegant and classy and the model that would be on my magazine looks classy and el

egant.  Another reason why I have chosen to use this parent company for my magazine is that they already have over 22million people that purchase their magazine monthly, and I think their audience would also purchase my music magazine because they trust the Hearst Company’s judgement in publishing magazines.  In addition, if this company produces my magazine, it is more likely to become successful because of their reputation as they have a wide audience appeal.

PRE-PRODUCTION PAPER WORK

Location recce form

Where or what location are you planning to shoot your music magazine? I would like to shoot my music magazine outside my church because the genre of my music magazine is gospel. I want the audience to know the genre of my music magazine as soon as they pick it up.

 

Directions to get there? Bus: 257 from Walthamstow to Stratford. The stop is Leytonstone fire station.

What do you like about it? I like the location I have chosen because it would match the genre of my music magazine, and this will immediately infer that it is a gospel magazine. The scenery of my magazine shoot is natural and this will reassure the audience that my magazine is not like any other magazine, as I would not edit the scenery.

What problems might you encounter with it? The only problem I might encounter with is, people from the church finding it disrespectful to utilize the church scenery for a photo shoot.

How do you plan to overcome them? I would simply inform them about my media production which is to create a music magazine. I would also inform them that I needed to take pictures in front of a church, as the genre of my music magazine is gospel.

How is your location relevant to your music magazine/artist? The genre of my music magazine is gospel and the location I have chosen for the shoot is church. All the artists that I would like to be featured in my music magazine are gospel artists

How does your location relate to the (sub-genre) music genre? There are many different genres within gospel, I would like to have rap, and urban contemporary gospel artists included in my music magazine. The location I have chosen relates the sub-genres (rap and urban contemporary gospel) as it is modern church and the gospel music is portrayed in many different ways.

Picture of the place

QUESTIONNAIRE FINDINGS

questionnaire results from eunice_kusonika

CONTENTS PAGE ANALYSIS

Contents page analysis from eunice_kusonika

COVER PAGE CODES AND CONVENTIONS

Codes and convention from eunice_kusonika

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD TEXT

Hi everyone, welcome back to another exclusive interview with ‘Sing Dance Worship’. Joining us today is the most famous Christian rapper, he’s an actor, he’s a song writer, he’s a producer, and he is LECRAE.

SING DANCE WORSHIP: Thank you for joining us today Lecrae, it is such an honour to have you here.

LECRAE: NO thank you for having me here, I am so excited.

SIND DANCE WORSHIP: before we begin, we would all like to know about you, about Lecrae.

LECRAE: I am Lecrae Devaughn Moore, ermm I am a hip-hop artist and I love making music that inspires people to do the best they can. I am a Christian and my faith plays an important part to my music. I never promote drugs, sex and violence in my music because I have been there and I now know that there is a lot more things to life than those three dangerous things.

SING DANCE WOSHIP: I love that because there is not many artists out there that do what you do man, so it’s amazing to know that not everyone thinks about sex, drugs and violence.

LECRAE: Yeah, I mean many young people are lost and trying to find something that can comfort them and they usually rely on sex, drugs and alcohol, but if they have someone telling them that they don’t need sex, drugs and alcohol to get through life especially through sings because that’s what are generation is in to. Music, through music we can save many lost people.

SING DANCE WORSHIP:  that’s really good man, tell us a bit more about your big break

LECRAE: My big break. I would say my big break was when I was 25 years old, I released my first album but I didn’t expect to be so popular, of course I was hoping it was popular but I wasn’t expecting it. When I found out that my album made it on to the billboard and reached no. 29, I went down on my keens and worshiped god because without him nothing will be possible.

SING DANCE WORSHIP: so Lecrae we heard that you do not like the term ‘Christian rapper’ and you do not want people to know you as a Christian rapper. Tell us, why does it bother you so much?

LECRAE: It is not that I don’t like being labelled as a Christian rapper. I prefer to be labelled as a hip-hop artist. There’s nothing wrong with being a Christian rapper because I’m a Christian so I enjoy Christian music but as soon as you’re labelled a Christian rapper, atomically people thing that you’re music is only for Christians, and other people might not even listen to my music because it’s ‘Christian music’ and they might automatically think that it’s not good music. I am trying to win non-Christians as well as Christians because I want to inspire everyone to be better.

SING DANCE WORSHIP: what advice would you give to people that are always negative?

LECRAE: My thing is just I always tell people before you complain, be grateful you got breath to complain with, just appreciate the little things. Just the small blessings that you just have. You woke up, you can walk and you are alive. We lost people last year, so just all those little things.

SING DANCE WORSHIP: that is great man, because everyone needs someone to bring them up and you are one of the good ones man, always trying to make people happy. It is good because there is many people out there that look up to you so you keep up the good work. Well it was a pleasure having you here today and I hope you keep making your way up

LECRAE: It was a pleasure to be here and I will never give up on my dreams man.