My Magazine Evaluation
Front Page
My music magazine 'HopHip' challenges the normal conventions of a hiphop magazine but I also have used some of the main conventions. On my front cover I have used a close up of a face as my main image, which is a widely used factor of music magazines, like the front cover of 'XXL' magazine that I have deconstructed for my research and planning. My main image is a 17 year old boy wearing his hood up conoting the hood he has come from. For my masthead I have used the common code of white writting on on a red background at the top of my front cover. I have challenged the normal convention by putting only one cover line on my front cover and rather than put it down the sides or across the bottom, I have put my cover line in the top right corner of the page. The price, barcode and date all follow the normal conventions and are cornered at the bottom of the page. The back ground is a screenshot of his beats that he created on the software he uses called Logic.
Contents Page
The 'HopHip' contents page follows teh conventions of magazines such as 'Vibe'. I have also added the masthead to my contents page wich 'Vibe' doesnt as it is a normal convention that is used in most HipHop magazines. The back ground image is a powerful one, it was taken by me and connotes the rough life he has lead and all the brothers that have been lost. The contents and coverlines themselves are written down the side of my page as no to obstruct the main image. I have also added in a puff 'Free Poster' to help sell the magazine as everyone likes freebees with what they buy, they feel like they are getting more for thier money. The banner is in the same writtin as the cover line on the front to keep up consistency throughout the magazine.
Feature Page
For my feature page I have used another powerful image of Greg Smart creating his music on studio computer, with the strong image of his father and him as baby watching down over him. Again I have kept up the concistency of the magazine by using the same masthead and banner as I have previosly used on the front cover and contents page.
The Q&A is in the blank space so as not to take the focus away from the main image. I also did not want to litter the page with writting, so as not to bore the reader and keep them interested enough to read the rest om the magazine.
Audience
I have used the powerful photographs that you can see as my backgrounds, as this will help teenagers whatever race they may be to relate to and understand the struggle to make it in the music industry. In general young people are not represented very well in the music industry, as most people do not usually make it into the industry at such a young age. So to have a 17 year old boy from London is inspiring to all youth, and even the older generation can respect it. The audience for my magazine will be mostly males between the ages of 15 to 25 as they are the most likely to buy hiphop magazines. But by using a good looking male as the front cover this should help draw in the female buyer aswell, as most major hiphop magazines do infact use sex to sell. The main fact about our audience is that they are all music lovers and in particular huiphop fans. The main fact about music magazines is that is that they are all about the music, if they were not then they simply would not sell as this is the main attraction to the magazine. If the main image its self does not catch the eye then the bright colours used on the fornt cover will.
Distribution
'HopHip' magazine would most likely be distributed by a major publishing house such as Harris Publications as they would help get my magazine out there and heard about so when it eventually is put on the shelves people will want to buy it over the other big name magazines as my magazine is unique in the way that it is simple but still laden with interesting features and photos that would catch anyone's eye whether they are a hiphop fan or not.
Technologies
Creating this music magazines i have learnt a number of skills and come across a range of new software nad sites to use in order to make a magazine from scratch and create a blog logging all the information and research along the way. For instance before I started AS Media Studies i did not know how to use photoshop at all but through workshops online help and help from fellow classmates and of course teachers i have learnt the skills necessary to create a magazine at a high level. Blogger is one of the easiest to use and fun ways to work as it can be adapted in every way to suit your own individual tastes. My blog is simple to navigate and fun to look at with the music playing in the back ground and the fun fish game at the side. Overall I believe that through this course I have gone a journey of learning and progression from what I first created back at the begging of the year with my school magazine.
