Kazam Kamal 13BL

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? Conventions are the items and information people expect to find in almost all products. For a music magazine this would be

things such as looking at the front page for example, to find the title at the top left or centre of the page and below there is an image of the story under spotlight, which on most occasions covers the title itself.

In my media product I have used and also challenged the conventions of real media products. My front cover follows convention as its title is above the image itself and as many music magazines in the market today, the image covers the front of the title. The image itself is also similar to ones that are found on a hip hop related magazine, a close up on a artist. However my front cover does not follow convention when it comes to the information that is typically found on most magazine, that is many sub-headings or smaller images that provide the reader with what to expect inside. I opted to keep my magazine simple and neat by not putting any sub-headings or further information that would indicate to the reader what they might find inside.

Looking at my contents page I feel that I have challenged the conventions because my page identifies the title ‘contents’ which is not found in most hip hop music magazines rather the word is changed to slang phrases that don’t mean contents either. Also much of conventional magazines have typically one image and lots of detail on what can be found on most pages. But my contents page has used a number of images and fewer detail on what could be found in the magazine. I feel that my contents page even after not following conventions is better and still looks professional.

My double page spread is a page that does follow conventions as in many hip hop magazines I find a varied choice of colour, similar contents and layout. I have looked at many magazines to give my double page a similar look so that readers can identify my magazine with others in the same market but also at the same time differentiate between my magazine and the others. I wanted my page to also look as if it done as much as the front cover appealed to the audience.

How does your media product represent particular social groups? Music magazines represent particular social groups depending on what magazine they are. My music magazine represents the hip hop group as the my product is aimed towards the hip

hop category. It represents this group through the way the text is written, laid out, the images that are used and the conventions of hip hop music are achieved. In hip hop magazines there is a lots of different styles of font used and the lay out of the pages vary sometimes depending on what the story is about. The colours are also mixed depending on which artist is under the spotlight and represents their ‘affiliations’.

The Spark incorporates all these aspects within the magazine and I believe that it reaches out to this particular group. The magazine is aimed at all the people that listen and love to read up on hip hop media but also to the ages between 16 to 35 as these are the average ages of people which go out and party to this genre of music.

When I researched hip hop magazines there was a lot of images on individual artists that would appear. So I decided that my magazine would concentrate on individual artists and portray them as they are seen across the media and fellow hip hop magazines. I feel that the choice of mise-en-scene, lay out, lighting and camera angles was a reflection on what is to be found out in the hip hop industry.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?The kind of media institutions that I feel will distribute my music magazine

would be: Newsagents, WHSmith, Gigs and Clubs. I believe that these are the best distributers that will allow my magazine to

reach out to its audience because many of the target market is known to use these distribution centres and purchase their regular magazines.

By distributing through WHSmith I will be able to compete directly with my hip hop magazine competitors and also my reach would be global further promoting my product. Also this centre is found all across the country and so audiences can go into any franchise and pick out a copy.

Who would be the audience for your media product?As highlighted through my questionnaire results, my

target market is all hip hop lovers and readers and the ages between 16 to 35 as this is the age I believe that are most interested and connected to the market.

How did you attract/address your audience?I attracted my audience through the use of my front cover

image which is unconventional. The plain and simplicity of it with a name that is commonly found in the hip hop world ‘The Spark’ I was able to appeal to my audience.

The lay out, content and mise-en-scene that were used followed typical hip hop magazine conventions and so attracted the readers of other hip hop magazines to my product.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?Before working on this task I had been introduced to

photo and image manipulating software and so had a basic knowledge of the know-how to create the ideas I wanted.

But over the process I have gained invaluable knowledge and have improved my ability using these type of software.

I have understood the different processes there are in to designing the finished product and that it requires much time, organisation hard work to complete one product

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

From the first step of designing my preliminary task till the completion of my final product I have witnessed what it takes to make a product to look professional and at the same time presentable.

There are many steps along the way that one struggles with but I believe that by looking at each step in detail and taking my time, that I was able to produce a well produced music magazine. And am confident if it ever did reach production on a larger scale that it would compete with other well known magazine brands.

My finished product