RATED REvaluation: Print project

Robyn Morris-Grogan

Introduction• The genre I chose was R&B music

magazine. • I wanted to create a unique, modern,

sophisticated but young magazine. With a twist of street/geek chic style in there.

• The R&B genre is a big category, which consist of many different styles. Such as Rhianna, Beyonce, which is for a female audience.

• Then there is Ne-yo, usher, which is for both male and female’s.

• There are many different styles of R&B, such as a pop influenced R&B e.g Justin Bieber. Dance influence e.g rhianna.

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

Typical Conventions: All Magazines follow the same rules.- Image and name of magazine should fit contents and target

audience.- Should have a house style. (colour theme)- Should create a relationship with audience; -through direct address (inviting the reader in)- Should be bright, eye catching and interesting.- Variety of fonts- One main star/ model - Leading captions, subheadings and strap lines.- Barcode and date

- This magazine follows the typical conventions.

I have followed the conventions of magazines for my front cover.

I have used a large title, that is eye catching. The title follows the style of my magazine. Sophisticated (RATED) and the twist of the paint splattered (R) .

I have used direct address in my photography to draw the Readers in.I have started a house style with the colour theme Blue, red and grey.

I have used strap lines and sub headings to attract readers in to the magazine, and to entice readers to open the magazine

I have broken some conventions for my contents page. I have:

used a double page, which is not a typical convention.

I wanted to create a large contents page to feature one large image of my feature artist. I wanted this image to

dominate the page. I felt it Works well with the style of the magazine and this Design feature.

I have also used a large title, which is a typical convention. It stands out well and is very clear for readers.

I have picked out some big headlines with page number to Make it easier for readers to flip to and from pages.

In my research I saw many magazines do this.

I also have carried my house style through the pages. With similar fonts, but also some different ones

(such as the 1,2 and 3) To make it look interesting to the eye.

A typical contents page

• Again, I wanted my photography to be the main focus of the page, as is typical of the magazine genre. Here my image, I wanted it to give an impression to the audience about my artist.

• I have used ‘pull outs’ from my article to draw the readers attention to certain parts of the article

• The colour scheme again has run through the pages, creating a house style.

• I named my article “The 18 year old hottie”, as this is a quote from in side my magazine.

• In my journalism, I have tried to create my character by using slang words, and cheeky comments which I feel my character would say. I wanted to give the impression of a cheeky, swerve, character. I think and hope I have portrayed this through my journalism.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

As my artist was going to be a male, R&B, solo artist I decided to research in to other male R&B artists, plus other R&B music.

I looked in to props and costumes that portray this social group

Such As:

Posh/flash suits

Braces

Dark sun glasses/ geek chic

Relaxed casual, leather jackets

Worn look jeans

All of these costume and prop idea’s create the representation of an R&B star, as R&B stars are know as fashionable and cool. They are iconic for their fashion. Therefore that’s why I have used these costume and props for my artist.

I have also presented this in the journalism.

In my article I have also tried to represent this particular social group group. I have tired to be inventive with my writing, portraying the type of class my artist was.

Such as the way he spoke: I used slang and abbreviations to show his R&B culture and style.

I portrayed him as ‘a bit of a ladies man’ as all R&B Stars are represented as. Here are a few examples of how I have done this, within the journalism and Photography…..

What type of media Institution might you distribute your media project and why?

There are many magazine publishers in the UK that publish similar magazines to my magazine.

Such as; IPC Future Publishing

These publishing companies publish similar magazines to mine. For example, IPC publish NME Magazine. Therefore these would be ideal for publishing my magazine.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

How did you attract / address your audience?My magazine is for both male and female, as R&B music has a vast market.

The age range I have gone for an older market, from the age of 16 up to 25. I have chosen to do this due to the sophisticated, classy look of the magazine, with a twist of street/R&B styling. (E.G. the R painted in red)

I wanted to aim at this age category due to the fact that in the market today there are not many older magazines for this age group. The magazines today are for more of a younger audience, so I wanted to specifically aim at this age group.

The way I have shown this in my magazine, is by the design and style of the magazine. I have gone for a modern, sleek style with a touch of street style which would reflect my older category.

I have named it “Rated R”. I have called it this as suggests that it is for an older market, as Rated R mean over 18’s certificate. I feel this name works well to represent my audience.

I have aimed to fill a niche in the market for this type of magazine.

My product is for music fans, that have a particular interest in R&B / Pop.

I have addressed this by naming famous R&B artists on the front cover to attract the audience.

I have used a new up and coming R&B artist to focus on, that R&B fans will be interested in. Including attractive male and female artists to appeal to men and women readers.

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

I have learnt a lot from carrying out this project.

I firstly I learnt the basic of Photoshop. I learnt how to cut out, how to edit and alter the brightness and contrast of the images. I then went on to more technical editing, such as picking out colour from black and white images, and blending images together to create the effect I wanted. There is so much possibilities from using this program.

Secondly I used in design, which I also learnt the basic’s of. It is very handy to know this program, as it Is the program that is used in industry. I learnt how to set out my magazine pages. How to use columns and margins and mush more. It was all very useful.

Also I used a website named blogger to create a blog to present and document all my work on. It was easy to use but sometime was slow.

I used professional cemera’s to shoot my images, Sony DSLR camera. Plus lighting was key to get the effect that I wanted to create.

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

From comparing both projects, I can see the development I have made.

I have thought a lot more about every process, every decision more in depth.

The Front cover of my final project looks more professional due to the skills and technologies I have learnt through looking at professional magazine. I have gained knowledge of how magazine s think about every process to attract readers. I have chosen a genre which has created a house style throughout my magazine which make the magazine more professional.

My photography is more advanced and professional than my preliminary task. The image are an important part of magazines therefore having good quaility images increases the professionalism a great deal.

Audience Feedback Questionnaire Results… What does the title suggest to you?

A lot of people answered, that it was most likely for an older audience. This is what I was trying to achieve. Here are a few examples of the answers from the audience.

What genre/type of music does the magazine focus on and how can you tell this?

The audience spoke mostly about the featured artist and how he portrayed the R&B genre of music across to the readers. Here are a few examples…

What makes the page look professional and what stops them from looking professional?

The audience main spoke about the text, and how it made the magazine look professional and the photography, it gave the magazine a professional edge.

How genuine does the front cover seem?All of the audience said that the front cover looked very genuine.One reader wrote this… Which I thought was a good point for my magazine.

Does the contents page simply inform or does it also manage to interest you in reading the rest of the magazine?

Most reader’s said that the layout made the magazine more interesting, due to the photography layout. This entices the readers to read in to the article.

Does the article sound like a piece of journalism? If not what bits don’t sound right?

Readers said that the journalism was interesting and creative. The use of language to display the styling of my artist was good.

Does the article layout make you want to read it? If not why?The readers thought that the article was easy to read. I managed this by not overcrowding it with text. I left space so that it is easier to read for the readers.