EVALUATIONOmar ClarkeCandidate Number: 2124

RAPS ROYALTY

• Through carrying out an extensive amount of research on Hip Hop magazines, I was able to find conventions of the genre used for other Hip Hop magazines. Through carrying out research I found out they magazines tend to use field specific and esoteric language throughout their magazine to appeal directly to their audience through shared understanding. For example the phrase below in a Source magazines cover line “what are Eminem and Dre Cookin’ Up” is clearly informal language. The normal person may not understand what is meant by the metaphor ‘cookin’ up’, however the target audience of this magazine would as they are Hip Hop fans in which the Hip Hop genre is associated with esoteric language such as slang, colloquialisms and clippings as seen by “cookin’”. I also tried to incorporate this convention into my magazine, more so in the double page than the front cover and the contents page. I used esoteric language such as “dope” which is a synonym for good in the Hip Hop discourse community; I also used non Standard English terms such as “flyest” replacing the term best. Once again these are terms that the normal consumer may not understand, but the target audience will due to having members’ resources, meaning they have background knowledge and a shared understanding of the Hip Hop culture. Through my choice of language I have developed the conventions of a real Hip Hop magazine as from the research I conducted on Hip Hop magazines they all use esoteric and field specific language that is relevant to the Hip Hop genre, thus making the magazine appeal more to the target audience.

IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT

USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND

CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

• Additionally from my research I also found out that Hip Hop magazines use only two/three colours for their front covers, thus making it have a cohesive structure and not disorganised. I also developed this Hip Hop magazine convention by using three colours for my magazine. I used the neutral colour grey as the background, whilst neutral colour white for text and also the use of a the cool colour blue. From my research Hip Hop magazines tended to use a neutral colour such as black for the background, neutral colour white for the text and either a warm colour such as red or a cool colour such as blue for other parts of the magazine. I also developed this concept in my colour scheme following the conventions of Hip Hop magazines, as the use of a narrow range of colours for the colour scheme whilst having a dark neutral colour for the background allows the magazine to not look too cluttered or disorganised. I have also developed the conventional structure of the cover lines in my magazine.

• From conducting my research Hip Hop magazines tend to keep cover lines all aligned either to the left or the right apart from the main cover line which is central and has a much larger typography and a different typography. I also followed this convention as I feel it enables the magazine to be more cohesive and allows the audience to interpret the text easier.

IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT

USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND

CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

• From conducting my research on Hip Hop contents page, I found that they tended to use a layout whereby they separate their regulars from their features through the use of boxes. I also employed this convention when producing my contents page as it allows the contents page to be more cohesive to the audience as they’ll be able to navigate around the contents page more easily. Additionally from my research I found out that they tend to make their contents page link to their front cover through placing their masthead in, I also followed this convention.

• However an area where I challenged the contents page that I researched is that I felt that they didn’t link back to their front cover enough. This influenced me to place my front cover within in my contents page in a reduced size, this allowed me to make the contents page link with the front cover even more, allowing my magazine to be even more cohesive.

IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA

PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE

FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA

PRODUCTS?

• Another method I have employed that challenges the conventions of a magazine is the techniques I have used to ensure that my future issues of my magazine sustains readership. For instance in my contents page I have dedicated a box that tells the reader what will be in next months issue. This is a subversive feature of a contents page as it challenges the conventions as from my research contents page do not tend to insight the reader about future issues. This is a method I have employed to encourage increased sales of my magazine Raps Royalty.

IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA

PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE

FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA

PRODUCTS?

• My media product represents particular social groups through a range of ways. I chose to use Medium Camera shots mainly for my images of artists. I had done this to allow different aspects of the mise-en-scene to represent the Hip Hop culture. The use of gold chain jewellery in the miss-en-scene allowed me to demonstrate the roots of the Hip Hop cultures as pioneers of Hip Hop such ass Run-DMC are infamously known not only for the Adidas Sneakers but also the Rope Gold Chains. In addition the use of jewellery allowed me to represent the glamour lifestyle and the boastful attitudes of modern Hip Hop artists. Through utilising a medium shot also enabled me to represent the costumes and props conventional to the genre as the use of designer clothing brands such as Ralph Lauren is representative of the rags to riches lifestyles that Hip Hop artists demonstrate. Through using headphones as a prop also helps represent the genre as they’re ‘beats by Dr Dre’. Headphones are associated with the all types of music but through using headphones constructed by a major Hip Hop producer helps to represent the genre of Hip Hop.

Additionally through using medium shots allowed the body language to be seen explicitly in the miss-en-scene whilst a medium shot is close enough to allow you to see facial expressions. The main shot used for my magazines front cover allows the body language to be seen explicitly as the artists throws up a hand gesture that is conventional to the Hip Hop genre. Hand gestures such as the one in my front cover is conventional and can be associated to the gang life in the project areas that a lot of American artists stem from.

HOW DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT

REPRESENT PARTICULAR SOCIAL

GROUPS?

• Additionally in constructing my masthead, I wanted to utilise a typography/graphology that represents the ‘projects’ in America, where Hip Hop branched out from. The projects are essentially the council house estates within the city in the states of America. Through the use of a masthead typography that visually looks as though it has blocks, can represent the infrastructure of these council estate projects. Additionally I wanted to represent the gritty lifestyles and hardships that Hip Hop artists held prior to becoming artists’, this is why I chose a typography that has a gritty approach and slightly dark connotations hence the black marks in the text.

• Additionally the mode of address that I have employed in my double page spread in particular is relevant to the Hip Hop genre. I have used esoteric lexical terms such as ‘dope’ and ‘flyest’. The use of esoteric language and slang, creates solidarity with the target audience as they’re likely to be of the only ones that can interpret those words as they would use the same words in their vocabulary.

HOW DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT

REPRESENT PARTICULAR SOCIAL

GROUPS?

• A media institution that may distribute Raps Royalty is IPC. This is due to the IPC being the biggest publishers in the United Kingdom, thus making them very successful. They have a magazine in a numerous amount of fields and sectors such as the music industry through Rock magazines like NME, whilst the television industry too through TV Times. However through constructing research on the IPC I drew to the conclusion that they don’t publish any Hip Hop magazines. As they don’t publish any Hip Hop magazines, there is a market for them to distribute my magazine. In addition there aren’t many Hip Hop magazines in the UK, the closest Hip Hop magazine is the independently published magazine Rewind Mag, thus suggesting there is a market for a Hip Hop magazine in the UK as there isn’t enough and the IPC Media don’t publish any.

Through constructing research on the IPC I found out that they have three core audiences: men, mass market women and upmarket women. Two out of three of these audiences are relevant to my target audience, as my target audience age ranges from 18-25, these are both men and woman, so on a broad level in terms of the age of my target audience it fits in with the IPC’s ideologies. The core audience is upmarket woman wouldn’t suit my magazine so they are the core audience that my magazine wouldn’t appeal to.

The department most relevant to Raps Royalty in the IPC would be the department called IPC Inspire. This is due to the fact it is where the more male orientated magazine's reside also all the music magazines including NME are placed in this section.

WHAT KIND OF MEDIA INSTITUTION MIGHT

DISTRIBUTE YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT AND WHY?

• From conducting research on other magazines that they have distributed I found out that when they publish a magazine they also place a lot of money to invest in the sales and publicity of the magazine. This makes it clear that IPC media is a platform that help execute a lot of sales for the magazine as they’re willing to place investments into magazines that they publish.

• The IPC are a global institution and are the UK's leading consumer magazine and digital publisher, they also have a large successful portfolio selling 350 million copies of their published magazines a year. This make it clear that if they we’re the publishers of Raps Royalty they will help boost sales exponentially.

WHAT KIND OF MEDIA INSTITUTION MIGHT

DISTRIBUTE YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT AND WHY?

• The target audience will have a shared understanding of the Hip Hop genre; they will have a firm knowledge and understanding of the genre. Due to my target audience having a shared understanding of the Hip Hop genre some of the terminology will attain field specific words that are relevant to the genre, such as ‘block’ referencing the projects in America, or jargon relevant to the genre such as ‘dope’ as a synonym for good. The target audience will be between the 18-25 year old brackets, young adults potentially. Although the roots of the Hip Hop genre is around the black ethnicity, Hip Hop has become a global landmark since the 21st century, in which it is endorsed all over the world thus influencing the magazine being targeted at all ethnicities as long as they have a shared interest in the Hip Hop genre. The economic backgrounds of my target audience will be middle class and working class as they are more likely to be able to relate to artists who have been through tough circumstances prior to becoming an artist. My magazine will be sold for £1.99; I have chosen this price so that it is affordable for my target audience of the working and middle class.

• The image of the right is an indication of the target audience of my magazine as they are from an urban environment. They are within the age bracket 18-25. They appear to be of middle class in terms of their economic background. As highlighted before my magazine isn’t subjective to race but it is subjective to only focusing upon those who have a keen interests in the Hip Hop genre.

WHO WOULD BE THE AUDIENCE

FOR YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT?

• Through conducting research on Hip Hop magazines I found out that they appealed to their target audience through their mode of address i.e. through the use of slang and esoteric terms such as ‘ ….It has also been done through the use of props in the miss-en-scene through the magazines I researched using props such as headphones made by Hip Hop producer Doctor Dre. Additionally props such as designer shades are relevant to the genre as emphasises the rags to riches lifestyles that a lot of Hip Hop artists generate. When constructing my double page spread through my mode of address I wanted to explicitly appeal to the target audience. Through using colloquial phrases such as “hottest buzz” and “cookin’up the game” allowed me to use esoteric language that only the target audience is going to be likely to interpret.

WHO WOULD BE THE AUDIENCE

FOR YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT?

• I have learnt a lot about the technologies used construct my artefacts. The software I have developed my understanding about the most is Adobe InDesign. I used Adobe InDesign predominantly to construct my double page spread and my contents page. The use of column guides allowed me enter my text and ensure that it was all aligned accordingly, thus influencing my final product to look more professional. Additionally through the software enabling me to set up margins and columns allowed me to divide my contents page into two on each page. This enabled me to operate in a more structured manor when constructing my contents page.

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT ABOUT

TECHNOLOGIES FROM THE PROCESS OF

CONSTRUCTING THIS PRODUCT?

• When using Photoshop through using tools such as the Quick Selection tool and the Magic Wand allowed me to erase the background of the image out accurately. Additionally through the advancements of the software enabled to increase/decrease the brush size such that the strength of the quick selection tool would be less/more. This enabled me to erase the background very finely and as accurate as I wanted to be. In the end this allowed my artefact to look more professional as real forms of media would always have the background very finely removed, Photoshop enabled me to do this.

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT ABOUT

TECHNOLOGIES FROM THE PROCESS OF

CONSTRUCTING THIS PRODUCT?

A limitation I found through using Adobe InDesign is that when I linked my double page spread to Photoshop to enable me to place my images into my Adobe InDesign document, my colour scheme was affected. Prior to placing in my images, the colour scheme consisted of a dark blue for text as used on my front cover. The double page spread headline on the right shows the colour my text was initially. However once I linked my InDesign document with Photoshop to place my images in the navy blue was changed into a feint blue colour. To the right you can see my double page spread whereby the text that was a navy blue has been changed to a feint blue/purple colour. This was the limitation I found through the use of Adobe InDesign .

On the whole I never had much limitations with the technologies that I utilised. This can be assessed by my initial mock-ups of how I wanted my artefact to look and the outcome of my artefacts when I completed them.

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT ABOUT

TECHNOLOGIES FROM THE PROCESS

OF CONSTRUCTING THIS PRODUCT?

• I have learnt a lot since constructing my preliminary task. I have learnt a lot about the technologies I have been using to construct the artefacts whilst I also learnt a lot about how to represent the genre and the audience through constructing more effective and excessive revision on real media products. In terms of the technologies used I developed my understanding of Adobe InDesign, thus developing my skills to keep my artefacts structured and aligned accordingly. For example the screen grab to the right shows the use of columns to help separate my text from images when constructing my contents page. Additionally Adobe InDesign C.5 allowed me to keep my text aligned accurately through a green line appearing when your text is aligned. Ultimately this helped to make my product simulate real media products as they would be professionally laid out and constructed.

LOOKING BACK AT YOUR PRELIMINARY

TSK, WHAT DO YOU FEEL YOU HAVE LEARNT

IN THE POGRESSION FROM IT TO THE FULL

PRODUCT?

• In addition my understanding of how to represent particular social groups has enhanced significantly since producing the preliminary task. For example through more extensive and efficient research into real Hip Hop magazines I found out how they represented the social group of hip hop aritists i.e through the miss-en-scene consisting of glamour jewellery for props. I also endorsed this when producing my artefacts I ensured that I had props such as jewellery, costume consisting of designer clothes that helped to reflect the rags to riches persona that artists attain, body language such as the hand gestures used that is relevant to the Hip Hop culture due to it’s associations with gangs and gangs tend to use hand gestures for gang signs. In contrast, during the preliminary task of a student magazine it could be said that I under represented the social group of students as I could’ve used props such as books to help represent them or I could have placed the picture in the location of a college/school to help represent the lifestyle of students.

LOOKING BACK AT YOUR PRELIMINARY

TSK, WHAT DO YOU FEEL YOU HAVE LEARNT

IN THE POGRESSION FROM IT TO THE FULL

PRODUCT?

Final product Preliminary Task